My Red Rose
by beccasophX
Summary: 'Forbidden Love'. Scorpius never thought he could fall in love properly. He was a Malfoy, after all. But then Rose comes along. Could it be Scorpius has finally found his match?
1. Chapter 1

_The dawn is breaking_

_A light shining through_

_You're barely waking_

_And i'm tangled up in you_

_I'm open, you're closed_

_Where I follow, you'll go_

_I worry I won't see your face_

_Light up again_

_**-Collide; Howie Day**_

**CHAPTER 1**

**SCORPIUS MALFOY**

"Malfoy!" I heard Adrian shout for me, and I could feel how little I cared. I just wanted to sleep! I groaned and plunged my head into my pillow. "_Malfoy!" _he yelled at me, and I felt a book hit my head. Hard.

"Zabini, if you throw something else at me, I'm going to murder you!" I was grinning though. Adrian and I had known each other since we were three. Our parents were friends when they were at Hogwarts together, Father was always telling me that I should be good friends with Blaise's son. He didn't need to tell me of course, Adrian and I had got on instantly; our personalities matched. Since we met, we'd shared everything; secrets, lies, and even girls.

"Yeah yeah, you're so frightening. Come on, Malfoy, we're going to be late to breakfast and I'm goddamn starving! And put a shirt on your incredibly sexy chest." He added, winking. I laughed and threw the covers off me. I pulled a black t-shirt on and hauled on my jeans while Adrian's stomach growled. Adrian's inability to withhold hunger was pretty much legendary.

"Come on, Zabini; let's go down, what are you waiting for?" I joked, and he scowled playfully at me.

When we got down to the Great Hall, we made our way to the Slytherin table. We got a few stares from some of the other students, but that was to be expected since we were both known as the sex gods of this school. We sat down at the table and Adrian immediately started helping himself to food, piling it on his plate and stuffing it in his mouth, hardly pausing for breath. I was almost impressed he could shovel his food down so quickly without, you know, gagging. I smirked at him. I saw something in the corner of my eye, and looked up to the Gryffindor table. Rose Weasley was being talked to animatedly to her stupid cousin, Dominique. Dominique and I had an unspoken agreement; if she didn't talk to me, I wouldn't punch her in the face. _God _she was annoying. She was a fugly slut.

Rose, though, she was pretty hot. For a Weasley, anyway. I knew she was alright, and I knew both her uncles were great at planning practical jokes, and I also knew she had inherited that. Of course I knew that, my father went to school with them. But I knew that I couldn't like her. She was a Weasley. I couldn't be friends with her. Not that I wanted to.

Her head was always in a book; it made me laugh that she had that little of a life. My father said that her mother was a know-it-all 'Miss Perfect' as well. In fact, everytime I mentioned Rose he just went on a rant about her mom. Actually, he talks about her mom quite a lot. Issues…

I realised I was still looking at Rose and before I could turn away she realised it too. She shot me the filthiest look across the Great Hall. She even looked hot doing that.

_Damn teenage hormones._

Goddamn Albus Fucking Potter saw me too. Fucking arrogant smartass. Of course, I was too, and that's why we didn't get along. There was only room for one overly arrogant wiseass in this school, and we both knew it. He thought just because he was a Potter that he could get away with being a twat. Just because his goddamn fucking father was famous didn't mean that he could go around being an ass. He didn't seem to get that his _father _was famous. Not him. That didn't give him a right to strut around the halls like he was some sort of hero. _I'm a fucking Malfoy! _Okay, so my grandfather was one of the Dark Lord's greatest supporters, but my dad wasn't. He has the Dark Mark. I know he has. But I also knew he only joined up because his parents were Death Eaters. Disgraced Death Eaters. He wanted his father to be proud of him. I knew because i knew the feeling. But he's worked long and hard to make a good reputation for the Malfoys and he's succeeded. There are still some people who practically run down the halls because they're scared of me, but that's just entertaining. I'm the badass in this school. Screw Albus Potter.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**okay, so i know this is a bit of a boring (and short) chapter, but hey, it's the first one, i'm just starting it off. well, please review and tell me what you think. don't be too harsh though, haha, i'm new at this.  
>stay posted for the next chapter,<strong>

**thanks **

**beccasophX **


	2. Chapter 2

_She woke from a dream_

_Her head was on fire_

_Why was he so nervous?_

_He took her to the park_

_She crossed her arms _

_And lowered her eyelids_

**_-Question; Old 97s_**

**CHAPTER 2**

**ROSE WEASLEY**

I liked going for walks around the castle after-hours. Everything was so quiet, even the smallest of footsteps made an echo. It was calming. Of course, if I didn't have my Uncle Harry's map it probably would've been less calming, but I did so I knew Filch wasn't lurking around. Seriously that guy should have retired. Or died. I was thinking this when I crashed into something. I saw a tall dark figure, and for a second I thought it was Filch but then I remembered he was on the third floor, and I was up on the seventh. Then my eyes adjusted again to the dark and I saw some attractively tousled white blonde hair and I knew who it was.

"Scorpius! Sorry… I'm sorry… I wasn't looking and I… sorry…" I said, flustered. I willed myself not to blush. I always blushed around him. I could've sworn he seemed to blush too, but it was dark so it was probably just my eyes.

"It's okay, Weasley. I'm always up for seeing a girl after-hours, if you catch my drift." His usual smirk played upon his lips, the redness I'd thought I saw no longer there, and I couldn't help but grin. There was something about him that made me smile, and I could never figure out what it was. Of course, I knew he saw lots of girls after-hours. Fate Brown never shut up about him: "Oh, Scorpius is so lovely! We're in love you know, he told me once that he wants to run away with me and get married!" I very much doubted he said this, and I definitely doubted that he was in love with her. I'd seen him drag other girls into broom closets between classes, but I noticed he always looked bored. It was just a game to him - just something to pass the time.

"Ah, girls like Fate Brown?" I raised my eyebrow at him. Scorpius looked almost… guilty. He shifted from foot to foot a little bit, but then he regained his composure.

"Fate Brown is a whore." He said, smiling at me. I'd never noticed before what a nice smile he had; I felt myself blushing again. "No offence if you like her or anything."

"No, you're right, she is a whore. And _I _have to share a dormitory with that two-faced bitch. You should hear her go on about you though." That last bit slipped out before I could stop, and I mentally kicked myself.

"Been having little late night chats about little ol' Scorpius here, have you?" He grinned broadly at me, raising his eyebrow.

"I try not to talk to Fate Brown, to be perfectly honest. She annoys the fuck out of me."

"Yeah I know what you mean." To this I raised my eyebrow. Wasn't he the one who kept dragging her into broom closets to run her clammy hands through his carefully mussed up hair and all over his soft, pale skin?

_Did you really just think about _Scorpius' _hair and skin? Snap out of it Rose!_

"If you don't like her so much, why are you always with her?"

"I'm not! I've been trying to ditch her lately actually, but she's always there whenever I turn the fucking corner. That's who I thought you were when we bumped into each other, but lucky for me it was just pretty little Rose Weasley." It took me a moment to realise what he said.

"Did you just call me pretty?" I asked, in a mix of horror and… what was that? Anxiety? Nervousness? Excitement. That's what it was. I was actually excited that Scorpius Malfoy would find me pretty. Now I was disgusted. I mean, there was no denying Scorpius was good-looking. No, he was gorgeous. The problem was: he knew it. Also, my dad warned me about the Malfoys. I didn't believe that Scorpius was half the stuff my dad had said about his father, Draco, but still I knew he would be fucking fuming if I befriended a Malfoy. I remember Albus mentioning Scorpius when we were at the Burrow, my dad started ranting about his father while Uncle Harry tried to calm him down, so Albus talked to my mum about him instead. She went a bit pink but continued the conversation anyway, but it couldn't have just been me who could tell she was uncomfortable talking about Scorpius. I don't know why, probably something to do with his father. But, knowing what my dad would be like if I was friends with him - actually, knowing what _Albus _would be like if I was friends with him - I usually kept my distance with Scorpius, but that didn't mean I didn't notice him. He could get any girl; blondes, brunettes, redheads, anyone. He and Adrian Zabini strut around the castle with his group of Slytherins trailing after them. You could see he wasn't bothered with the rest of his group. It was really just Scorpius, Adrian and a fan club. A bunch of wannabes. And Fate Brown trailing just a little bit behind them.

"Hmmm, I guess I did, can't deny that one. I'll see you around, Weasley." He winked at me, and he turned on his heel and walked back to the Slytherin common room. I felt a smile creep across my face and it was still there when I got back to Gryffindor Tower.

"What are you smiling at?" Dominique asked me, while sat up in bed reading a magazine.

"I guess I just had a really nice walk." I said, pulling my pyjamas on, the smile still fixed on my face when I slowly started to dream.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**sorry it took so long for me to get it up, i had a bit of writer's block, haha. i rewrote this a few times but i think i'm happy with it, which probably means you guys won't like it but hey, it's only just starting;)**

**i put a Vampire Academy reference in this by the way, if you can see it. VA is completely my favourite book series after Harry Potter. Plus the story revolves around _Rose _so i thought i'd be fun. I also put a Dramione reference in there, but that's just a little one so you probably won't see that. but if you can, tell me, post a review!**

**when i uploaded the first chapter, i didn't really think anyone would read it apart from the people i told i posted it, but i got some story alerts and someone favourited the story and you don't know how much i was smiling for the rest of the day:)**

**my birthday's in a week and it's christmas three days after that, and then i'm going to holland for new year but i'll try to fit in my third chapter sometime in the holidays, so please read!  
>and please review!<strong>

**thanks guys **  
><strong>beccasophX<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

_'Fess it up, dot on the palm of your hand_

_I can help you to stand_

_Saved it up for this dance_

_Tell me all the things that you can_

_I just wanna sing a song with you_

_I just wanna be the one that's true_

_**-Blue Eyes; Cary Brothers**  
><em>

**CHAPTER 3**

**SCORPIUS MALFOY**

I noticed Rose looking at me occasionally sometimes. To be perfectly honest, I noticed because I was looking at her too. Ever since I saw her in the corridor I can't get her out of my head! What the hell is wrong with me?

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Adrian said, voicing my thoughts. My head snapped up. We were in potions class, and I was trying to think while keeping my head in the book we were supposed to be working from so that Professor Slughorn wouldn't notice that I wasn't concentrating.

"Er, what do you mean?" I asked, trying to act casual. He raised his eyebrows at me and I could tell he wasn't fooled.

"Don't play that card with me, Malfoy." He smirked. I knew he was right; I couldn't hide anything from someone I'd known for as long as I could remember. "You've been acting weird for like a week, what's up with you?" I sighed. I knew he'd noticed that. I just couldn't stop thinking about Rose! Her cute freckles; her soft, chocolate brown eyes; her long, red hair that wafted a strawberry scent wherever she went; I'd known her for five years, how was I only just noticing this stuff? And why did I like it? It doesn't matter anyway, she's a _Weasley_. Even if I did like all that stuff, it doesn't change anything. She hates me anyway. At least, I think she does. Last week when I saw her in the corridor she didn't seem to hate me, but I guess it was late and she was tired. She _was _laughing with me though… whatever. It's not like I care anyway. "_Malfoy!" _Adrian practically yelled at me, breaking my thoughts and making me realise I hadn't answered him.

"Right, sorry, lost in my thoughts I guess." I shrugged in what I hoped was a nonchalant way. "I don't know, I guess I've just been in my own world or something like that."

"Whatever, Scorp, but I know something's up. When you decide you want to tell me about it, let me know, okay?" Adrian spoke icily, and his eyes never left the bile he was supposed to be measuring out. He was annoyed, but that was understandable. I knew I'd been a bit distant for the past week, but I guess I just didn't realise how unsociable I'd been. I just didn't understand what was going on with me! I couldn't figure it out, and I certainly didn't want to tell anybody about it. How would anyone see me after they knew I was – what? – _crushing _on a Weasley? No, that wasn't it. I didn't even like her!

But, I guess she was a laugh. What she said about Fate Brown was funny – a little unexpected, but funny none the less. She was right too; Fate is a two-faced bitch. Fate's always trailing after me; I swear she's like in love with me or something. I overheard her once telling one of her stupid giggly friends that she was going to marry me. Yeah, not even in her dreams. I mean, Fate was fun at first, because she was easy. But after a while, I just got bored of how easy she actually was. I mean seriously, that girl should have "slut" branded on her forehead. Actually, there's no need for it; anyone can tell just by looking at her.

I snuck another glance over at Rose, and she looked up at me at exactly the same time. Her chocolate eyes met my grey ones, and I felt something in my stomach. Like there was a bunch of knots that had just tightened. I shook it off, but I could feel myself going red. I winked at her and her face flushed too, but she grinned back at me. Then Slughorn dismissed us all from class and I could practically hear the class breathe a sigh of relief. Last lesson on a Friday was over; it was now officially the weekend. I slung my bag over my shoulder and walked back to my dormitory, collapsing on my bed.

"Er, what the fuck was that all about?" Adrian spoke, slumping down onto his bed too. The iciness was not completely gone from his voice, but it had lost most of the sharpness.

"What?"

"That little 'moment' you and Weasley had in there!" So he saw it. But it wasn't a big deal really…

"That wasn't a 'moment'. It's not a big deal, I was just being my usual cocky – and exceedingly sexy – self, and she smiled. So not a serious issue."

"Oh fuck. You like her, don't you?" Adrian groaned.

"What? Me? Like Weasley? What are you on?" I spluttered. Now that caught me off guard. I really didn't expect Adrian to come out with something like that.

"Yes you do. You so like her. You're actually blushing." He laughed, and I willed myself to stop going red. "Don't worry, Scorp, I won't tell anyone until you're ready to. Hey, if it helps, I think she's good for you." He added, completely relaxed while I stared at him like he just conjured up a hippogriff. "What?" He said, not even looking up from the Quidditch magazine he'd pulled out from underneath his bed.

"How is she 'good for me'?" I said, air-quoting his words.

"I don't know, you just sort of… fit, you know?"

"No, I really don't." I was still just staring at him. He shrugged and relaxed on his bed reading his magazine. I turned and laid back down on my bed, now staring at the ceiling. I was thinking about Adrian's words, how he thought I liked Rose, and thinking about how wrong he was. Still, I was thinking all this when I noticed a smile had played upon my lips. I didn't like Rose, I couldn't. She was just my… guilty pleasure.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**hey guys! i've updated actually earlier than i thought i would, but here it is, my third chapter. I've spent a while on it so i hope you like it, and i've been up since about ten trying to finish it. it's half two. in the morning. but whateveeer...**

**erm, gotta say thanks for the review! really made me smile:) **

**i decided in this chapter how much i love Adrian. he picks up on things that no one else would, even if they were as close to Scorpius as he is. but he's the one who puts the nail in the coffin for Scorp about liking Rose. Sorry if it seems like i'm rushing Scorp into liking Rose or something, but it does happen pretty quickly in all fairness, but in any case, he's known her for five years. (that puts him in sixth year by the way, when i say five years i mean up until that point).**

**next chapter's probably going to be a Rose POV; i want to get some Albus in there. I just know he's not going to be too happy with Rose next chapter. haha, spoiler alert;D**

**thanks guys! **

**beccasophX**


	4. Chapter 4

_It's worse, worse than you think_

_If truth be told_

_I'll tell you that you're lovesick_

_I am sweet, so everybody takes a bite_

_Dig in, I'm the catalyst of your demise_

_Words are cheap so I'll sell you a line_

_Like the way you acted tonight_

_Second best, is what, what you want then_

_It won't cost that much, but me_

_**-Take Your Breath Away; You Me At Six**  
><em>

**CHAPTER 4**

**ROSE WEASLEY**

Albus, Dominique, and I were walking through Hogsmeade, going to the Three Broomsticks. Dominique was my best friend, we were always closer than just cousins, but I always seemed closer to Albus. Our dads were best friends, so of course we'd be close but we shared everything. And when I say everything, I mean _everything_. If there was something I couldn't tell even Dominique, Albus would know.

But this Scorpius thing. I didn't know what was going on. We'd bumped into each other in the corridor and we spoke; it shouldn't have this effect on me! I kept looking at him, and when I caught his eye in potions I knew Zabini had seen us. I just couldn't get Scorpius out of my thoughts. I just kept picturing him; his ruffled, white blonde hair; his deep, silver-grey eyes; the way he smiled; how his clothes hung on him; the way he walked. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't help it.

_Snap out of it, Rose!_

"Rose, would you like something to drink?" Dominique was talking to me like a child.

"Yeah, I'll have a Butterbeer." I said, trying to prove that I did not need to be mothered like that. She'd been doing that all week. I was not a child. I didn't need to have someone treating me like I was five.

"Okay then, here you go." She said in that stupid annoying soft voice that she kept using to me. I was seriously going to punch her soon.

"Dom, stop talking to her like that, she's not in a fucking mental ward." Albus came to our booth with his Firewhisky. I sighed; I knew that was going to set them off. They always argued.

"I know she's not, Albus, at least I'm being sensitive!"

"Sensitive to what? There's nothing wrong with her!"

"God, haven't you been around this past week?"

"Yeah, I have! There's nothing wrong with her! You'd know that if you weren't so fucking conceited!" Dominique looked like he'd slapped her in the face. I sighed again. They always did this. They didn't mean _most _of what they said, and they always made up afterwards. They were cousins, after all.

"You're the one who's conceited! Strutting around the castle like you're all that, because you're _Albus Potter_! Because _Albus Potter_ gets any girl he wants and just discards them because you're a _Potter_!"

"Jealous of my charm?" Albus smirked, making Dom go bright red in anger. She opened her mouth to retaliate but before she could get her words out I put my hands up. They both turned to look at me.

"Enough." I said calmly, trying to keep my voice steady. I was so sick of their arguing! They were constantly at it, and I just couldn't take it anymore. They were both still looking at me, and I could tell they knew I was annoyed. I reached around in my mind for a random topic and I landed on Quidditch. "So, er, Gryffindor versus Slytherin match coming up… when are we training?" Albus was Quidditch captain this year, and we were both on the team. We were both Chasers, and our other cousin James was Seeker. Dom wasn't on the team, and I knew she got bored when we talked about Quidditch, and I knew she was just about to interrupt when Scorpius Malfoy and Adrian Zabini walked in.

Scorpius looked over in our direction and Albus and Dominique both visibly tensed up. His trademark smirk played upon his lips. I tried to relax but I could feel my face reddening. Why was I blushing? After he and Adrian had got their drinks, they walked past us to get to a table. Scorpius paused in front of us. His eyes raked over Albus, who narrowed his, then Dominique, who sat with her arms crossed, and then me, and I could've sworn I saw a hint of… lust in his eyes. I tore my eyes from him and looked at Adrian. He was looking at Scorpius with a knowing stare. I found myself looking back at Scorpius. His shining silver eyes met mine with his intense gaze, and I suddenly became oblivious to Albus and Dominique's presence. For a moment, it seemed like the whole world had gone, and there was just me and Scorpius. In that second I felt something flash within me. I wanted him. I needed him. Then he broke my thoughts and I flicked back to reality.

"Hey, Rose." He said, his eyes not leaving my face. I could feel Albus' and Dom's eyes boring into me. I distantly realised he'd used my first name. He'd never called me by my first name before.

"Er, hi… Scorpius." I swallowed and forced myself to say his name.

"I'll see you around sometime." He said, smirking at Albus and Dominique's stares. He could see he'd done the damage and walked away, obviously smiling to himself. I braced myself for the verbal abuse I was going to get.

"What the hell, Rose?" Dom practically shouted at me.

"What the actual fuck?" Albus said, reiterating Dominique's words in a more vulgar fashion. "Why is _Malfoy _talking to you?"

"I…" I spluttered. "I ran into him the other night. We talked for a bit. It wasn't a big deal." I tried to act casual but I could tell they weren't buying it.

"You spoke to _Malfoy_?" Albus spat.

_Here we go…_

"You spoke to Malfoy _without telling me_?" Dominique cried, and Albus stared at her with disbelief.

"Dom, I think you're missing the point. She had an actual conversation with _Malfoy_. He's the _enemy, _Rose!" He added, throwing a disgusted look at me. I had this for the whole way back to the castle, and back to the common room. It was eleven when I finally snapped.

"Look, enough, okay? Yes, I talked to Scorpius," Albus glared at the use of Scorpius' forename. "But it wasn't a big deal! It's not like we're, I don't know, friends or something! I ran into him, and we spoke. Get over it!"

There was a minute of silence when Dominique just glared at me. Then she burst into tears and fled to our dormitory. Albus rolled his eyes and smirked at me before remembering he was mad at me. There was another moment of silence between us and then Albus snorted.

"Fuck this." He stood up and marched up to his dorm, leaving me sitting in the armchair by the fire by myself. I was staring at the fire when I suddenly remembered the feeling I felt when Scorpius looked into my eyes. The burning desire I felt for him. I'd longed for him, I'd needed him, I'd ached for him. That flash of hunger I'd felt for him, even just for that moment, shook me to my core. I didn't know what had happened, and I didn't know why. All I knew was that something in Scorpius had stirred something deep inside me, and I was in no hurry to feel that again.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**I thought i'd post this after my birthday or something, but i had nothing to do today. I know the lyrics of the song up there don't have much to do with the chapter, but in my head they fitted so yea...**

**Erm, i probably won't update tomorrow or the day after, 'cause i'm busy tomorrow and the day after is my birthday, but i'll update sometime after that.**

**I hope you liked this chapter though! I like it, so that probably means you won't, but whatever, i had fun writing Albus. He swears a lot, like Scorpius. I l love Albus, but Rose is kinda boring me. Might make next chapter either Albus, Scorpius or maybe even Adrian POV. you'll have to see;)**

**please review!**

**thanks guys **

**beccasophX**


	5. Chapter 5

_And from the ballroom floor we are in celebration_

_One good stretch before our hibernation_

_Our dreams assured and we all_

_Will sleep well_

_Sleep well_

_**-Stolen; Dashboard Confessional**  
><em>

**CHAPTER 5**

**ADRIAN ZABINI**

Scorpius evidently didn't know how much he was in love with Rose. Or how obvious he was being about it. He didn't even try and cover up his constant glances and furtive smiles towards her. Fortunately for him, I was okay with it. Honestly, I thought she was good for him. Rose brought out something in Scorpius that I'd never seen in him. When he saw her, his eyes lit up. It was obvious to everyone around him how fucking in love with her he was. Obvious to everyone but him. He still denied it, even after he spoke to her in the Three Broomsticks while her fucking cousins were there. He evidently doesn't know what to do; because I think even he knows he just gave her hell in the form of Albus Potter and Dominique Weasley.

"_Are you honestly going to tell me that you don't like her?" I almost laughed, sitting down at a table with my Firewhisky. _

"_Er, yeah, because I don't." Scorpius replied stubbornly. I snorted at him._

"_If you don't like her, then I'm a hippogriff. And Scorp, trust me, I'm not a hippogriff." He couldn't help but grin at me. He opened his mouth to make a 'witty' remark when I interrupted. "Look Scorp, you're my best mate. If you do like her, I won't hold it against you. Like I said before, I think she's good for you. For the past week you've been all distant and I can tell it's because you're thinking about her. You can't hide anything from me, I know you too well. You may not think I notice your little glances and smiles at her but I do, and I'm telling you now that I'm okay with it. Honestly. You can tell me or not, but it doesn't change anything because I know you do anyway." He stared at me almost guiltily, and then took an unnecessarily large sip of his drink. "So enough with the mushy guy moment, because we've got a more pressing issue at hand." I said, and he raised his eyebrows. "Brown's been trying to catch your attention since we sat down, so if you don't tell her to fuck off, then I will." _

_Scorpius looked at Fate and she sprang up out of her seat and walked over to us in what I think she thought was a sexy way, but it actually made her look like she had a deformity or something. _

"Scorpius! _I can't believe you're here! I haven't seen you in ages!" She squealed, and I swear to God I almost punched her._

"_You saw me yesterday, Fate." Scorpius said in a bored tone. Fate looked momentarily flustered, but then she composed herself._

"_Yes I know, silly!" she hit him playfully on his arm. I looked at her in disgust. Desperate whore. "But we haven't, er, _talked _in ages!" She put emphasis on 'talked' I guess to try and not make me realise she meant 'fucked'. Stupid bint._

"_Fate, that's because, well, I really don't like you. I mean I literally can't stand you. Your voice makes me want to punch something, and the way you dress actually makes you look like more of a whore." Scorpius said flatly, and she looked like he'd slapped her. I laughed and she glared at me. Except when she glared she looked a bit like a cross panda, and there's nothing funnier than a cross panda. I laughed harder, and Scorpius started laughing too. Fate burst into tears and ran away, which I thought made the whole thing a lot more amusing. Unfortunately, when we started laughing it became very difficult to stop, and by the time we'd finished our drinks – which, admittedly, was a lot harder than it should've been because we were laughing so much – we were doubled up. _

We'd got into our dorm room and Scorpius was about to go shower when I brought up Rose again.

"So are you going to tell me that you like her or am I just going to have to torment you until you do?"

"I don't like her." He said, grabbing a towel. He must have thought I didn't hear him whisper, almost inaudibly, "Much" as he shut the door behind him.

He was such a clueless bastard, that I decided I'd talk to Rose. If I just talked to her, maybe she'd understand why Scorpius, for one, spoke to her in front of her cousins; although I'm not sure I quite grasp that myself.

I figured she'd be at the library, seeing as that's where she always is. Scorp couldn't have picked a girl with a life to fall in love with? I was walking there when someone ran into me at full speed, almost knocking me over. I looked to see who it was and saw red hair. Lily Potter.

"Adrian Zabini!" She exclaimed, and I noted the use of my full name. "Er, I… sorry I was… I was just trying to, er…" She trailed off.

"Run away?" I offered, and she nodded. "From who?"

"I, er…" Then she remembered her Potter-ness. "Why do you care?" She said resolutely, standing with her hands on her hips.

"Because I want to know what's got Little Potter quaking in her boots." I said calmly, trying not to notice her perfect figure. She might just be a fourth year, but she wasn't exactly unattractive. She sighed, her shoulders slumping.

"Lysander Scamander, you know, in your year? He's been hassling me about Rose, you know 'cause they used to go out, and now he wants her back and he keeps asking me to talk to her and this time he, er… never mind." She rambled, but her voice trailed off at the end. She hid her arm behind her back.

"What did he do?" I almost growled. Scamander was such a twat. She looked around nervously and gulped. She held her arm around towards me and I almost gasped; there was a large, deep cut on her upper arm, obviously still bleeding. She bit her lip and I could tell she was about to cry. She looked so adorable, so vulnerable, that I couldn't help myself. I pulled her into a hug and tears started rolling down her cheeks. I held her head against my chest and she sobbed into it, wincing from the pain in her arm. I pressed my lips to the top of her head and she looked up at me with her big brown eyes.

"What are you—?" She started to say, but before she could finish the sentence I leant down and kissed her. She melted into me and kissed me back, my hands still wrapped firmly around her waist. I kissed her harder, and she ran her fingers through my hair. I don't know how long we stood there, our lips locked together, but when we broke apart it seemed darker than before.

"What was that for?" She breathed, her arms still around my neck and my hands slotted into the curve of her waist.

"I have no idea." I smiled and kissed her again. She smiled back at me and she turned and walked away. I turned back around, walking back to the common room. It wasn't till I got in there when I remembered why I'd been out there in the first place. I shrugged to myself.

_I'll talk to Rose tomorrow._

I walked into my dorm and saw Scorpius lying on his bed reading my Quidditch magazine.

"Where have you been?" He said, setting down the magazine and raising his eyebrows at me.

"Just… out for a walk." I said, deciding that it would be best not to tell Scorp about my thing with Little Potter. For now, at least. I'd tell him when he admitted he was in love with Rose. His eyes lingered on me for a moment, before returning to the magazine. I clambered into my bed, suddenly exhausted. I closed my eyes, and Lily's face swam in my mind. I grinned to myself, trying to remember how that even happened. After a while Scorpius turned out the lights and fell asleep, and I knew I wasn't the only one dreaming about a member of the Potter-Weasley clan.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**hey guys! thought i'd post chapter 5 before christmas, even if it is just a day before.  
>so yea, merry christmas!<strong>

**i quite liked this chapter; i liked the little Adrian/Lily spontaneous kiss thing. I did that on purpose, btw, it was meant to happen out of nowhere. i thought i'd make Adrian a love interest and Lily was the natural fit. i know she's two years younger than him but whatever. **

**so questions? comments? please review!**

**thanks  
><strong>

**beccasophX **


	6. Chapter 6

_Could this be better?_

_You write me letters _

_So you see me everyday_

_You tend to treat me like_

_My name is up in lights_

_It really blows me away_

_**-This Is Really Happening; Taylor Swift**_

**CHAPTER 6**

**ROSE WEASLEY**

Neither Dom nor Albus are speaking to me. James was telling me that Dominique's always crying now. I noticed when she walked in the dorm room that her eyes were puffy.

_Attention-seeking bitch._

Looking at her made my face burn with anger, my jaw was clenched. I sat upright; my arms crossed tightly, determinedly looking everywhere but at Dominique. I could see her staring at me out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head sharply and my eyes locked with hers. She glared at me, her face stony.

"Oh, if looks could kill." I said, sarcastically. She burst into tears, Fate running to her side. I would've happily killed both of them before Dominique could let out another overly-done snivel. I knew I had to get out of the room before I punched one of them – as appealing as it sounded – so I threw the covers off me and walked out the room. "Fuck you." I said, just loud enough for her to hear me, while slamming the door behind me.

I don't even know where I was going, I was just walking. I was seething. How _dare_ she? How fucking _dare_ she? I didn't even do anything! I didn't do anything to _her _either! Even James knows that, and he wasn't even there! I could feel my eyes well up, so I shut them tightly, willing the tears to disappear. That's when I fell. I tripped over something – it felt like a leg – and I couldn't stop myself from falling. But something caught me. Some_one _caught me. I felt strong hands pull me up and I realised my eyes were still shut. I opened them and saw the familiar white blonde hair. Scorpius.

"Rose, we have to stop meeting like this." He grinned. I blushed, but I quickly regained my composure.

"I thought you were always up for seeing a girl after-hours?" I grinned back. My mind tuned in to something warm on my shoulder, and I realised his hand was still there. He realised it too and released me, his cheeks going slightly pink.

"Ah but I wouldn't want to corrupt pretty little Rose Weasley." He winked at me, recalling what he'd said last time we'd met. He stared at me for a moment, his eyes raking my face. "Rose, have you been crying?" He looked concerned.

"No, I…" I trailed off at the sight of his face; his eyebrow was raised and his expression told me he wasn't buying it. I looked into his pale grey eyes, they were full of concern, full of worry, and slowly I nodded. My lip started to quiver and before I knew it I was crying. Full on crying. I barely noticed my knees giving way, and I sank to the floor. He kneeled beside me and looked at me as if to say "what happened?" I told him everything, and he listened. When I'd finished, I'd realised I couldn't stop. I just cried, heavier and heavier, and he held me to his chest. I could feel his heartbeat pounding in my ear.

_Thump thump. Thump thump. _

Or was that mine? I'd suddenly felt my heart race, and I had a funny twisted feeling in my stomach. I shook it off and I managed to regain my self-control. I dried my eyes and I stood up. He stood up with me, not fully letting go of me.

"Can I go hit her?" He said, only half a smirk playing on his lips, telling me he was partly serious. I laughed and shook my head, although I would've liked nothing better than for him to punch her. "Okay fine, but listen Rose, if anything else happens, or if you need anyone to talk to, you can talk to me you know. I know you probably don't want to, but if you ever need anyone not related you to talk to, I'm here, okay?" I nodded but I was caught completely off guard. I wasn't expecting that. This wasn't like the Scorpius Malfoy I knew – although I guess I didn't really know him. He was right though, I only really hung out with people related to me – which, now that I thought about it, was a bit depressing really.

XXXXX

I woke up in the morning with a smile on my face; a certain blonde Slytherin had sneaked into my dreams. My smile vanished when I saw who was standing at the foot of my bed.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" She shouted at me. I wasn't used to being yelled at just as I woke up; I was very tempted just to throw the covers over my head and ignore her. I didn't though. I sat up in bed and sighed.

"What did I do now?" I said calmly, noticing the bored tone in my voice.

"You're being such a bitch! You _know _I have stuff going on! Doesn't that mean anything to you?" She yelled at me.

"No." I said simply, her angry expression being replaced by a look of shock.

"_What_?" She screamed.

"I said no. You don't have stuff going on, your sister is getting married to someone you _used _to have a crush on. _Big fucking deal_. And I'm the one being a bitch? All I did was talk to Scorpius, and you started to ignore me! What the fuck?" I'd finally snapped. It was at this point I noticed Fate Brown sat up in her bed, not even trying to hide that she was eavesdropping on our argument. Her eyes widened when I spoke about Scorpius, evidently pissed that I'd spoken to him when he was 'hers'.

"You didn't tell me!"

"So? I spoke to him last night as well! There, I told you, are you fucking happy now?" I yelled, noticing Fate's angry expression and resisting the urge to laugh. I'd gotten up now, and I stormed angrily towards the door. Before I could open it, I felt Dominique's nails break my skin. That was it. I grabbed her hand and bent it backwards. I released her and she looked at me with pure fury in her eyes. I saw her fist come towards me and I felt a smash on my eye. Ignoring the pain, I turned at walked out of the dorm, into the common room, and out into the corridor. I didn't know where I was going, but I knew I'd started to run. I turned corners and I dodged Peeves. Everyone was down at breakfast, so I had no danger of running into anyone. I ran and ran until I saw where I was going. I hadn't realised where my feet were taking me. I had run to the library. I hadn't even noticed. I ran in, and I ran straight to my favourite chair, and I sat and cried. I held my knees to my chest and I rocked in my chair, crying and crying until breakfast was over. I had DADA now. With Dominique. I realised when I got up that I was still in my pyjamas.

"Shit." I swore, fumbling around for my wand. I'd grabbed it when Dominique woke me up. I scolded myself for not cursing her there and then. My hands found my wand and I pointed it at myself, whispering a spell. I looked down and I saw I was dressed in my uniform. In my head I thanked my mother for teaching me that spell. I pulled out the mirror that I kept stowed away in my robes and looked at my eye.

_Great. That bitch gave me a fucking black eye._

I groaned. I looked at my watch and realised I only had five minutes to get to DADA. I scurried out of the library and I dashed to the classroom. I made it with a minute to spare, which I was quite proud of. As I approached the classroom where everyone was standing, some people turned to stare at me.

"_Oh my god, _look at that!"

"What happened?"

"Who did it?"

I caught snatches of people's conversations as they looked at me and then turned back to their friends to discuss what they thought had happened. I looked around for Albus. He was leaning against the wall coolly, but I could practically see the conflict in his head. On the one hand, he was angry at me and was giving me the silent treatment, but on the other hand I was his cousin and his best friend. I think he was just about to walk up to me when Dominique walked up to him and immediately started whispering to him, throwing the occasional dark glance at me. I knew she was telling him her version of what happened; probably saying that Scorpius and I were eloping or something…

My jaw clenched and I willed myself not to lose control, because I knew that I would punch her back if I lost my self-restraint. I turned my back to them, and pretended I was interested in the notices on the wall.

"Jesus Christ, Weasley, what happened to you?" I heard from behind me. I noted the mixture of laughter and concern in Scorpius' voice, and turned to face him.

"Oh, just my dear old cousin decided to give me a black eye. The usual." I said, grinning. He laughed, and I noticed how lovely his laugh was.

"_Now _can I hit her?" He smirked, the half-seriousness there again. I glanced at Dominique, who was still whispering furiously to Albus, whose eyes were getting narrower with every sentence she spoke.

"I'll get back to you on that one." I laughed, and I realised that this was the first time we'd spoken to each other in public. I risked a look at Fate and, as I thought, she was glowering at me so much it wouldn't have surprised me if she was never able to open her eyes properly again. Scorpius followed my gaze and laughed.

"I told her I didn't like her a few weeks ago. She still follows me around though. I guess my sexiness is just a burden I'll have to bear…" He mock sighed, and I hit him playfully. It took me a moment to realise that we were acting like… friends. I looked at him and I could tell he thought the same thing.

"So, Rose Weasley, are we friends now?" I looked into his pale grey eyes and he looked into my brown ones, and I nodded.

"Yes, Scorpius Malfoy, friends." He held out his hand and I shook it, both of us laughing.

When we were called into class we walked in together, still laughing, and I noticed Adrian Zabini throw us a knowing look and I got the feeling he could see right through me. That he knew that I liked Scorpius. And he probably did. But now that he'd said 'friends' I know that I don't want to be friends with him. I really like him and it's taken six years to realise it. That burning of emotions I felt in the Three Broomsticks, I felt all that for a reason and looking at him I knew what the reason was. He was beautiful, and he was funny, and he was nice to me. He wasn't overbearing like Lysander Scamander was, and he seemed like he would look out for me. I knew I liked him, but I also knew he wouldn't feel the same way. He's _Scorpius Malfoy. _He could get any girl in school, so why would he go for boring old Rose Weasley?

XXXXX

**SCORPIUS MALFOY**

I like Rose. Goddamn it! What the fuck is wrong with me? I'm a Malfoy, I'm not meant to _feel _stuff! But I look at her and I just want to protect her. I want to protect her from anyone who might hurt her, I want to run my fingers through her strawberry-scented hair, I want to feel her soft pink lips on mine… I want her. I really do.

We've been hanging out a lot for the past few weeks, as none of her cousins are really talking to her. We walked around the grounds a lot now. It'd snowed, and Rose told me how much she loved the snow. I thought it was amazing how she still looked beautiful when she was all snuggled up in her hoodie, hat, gloves and scarf. It made me laugh how people reacted when they saw us together, especially when I was wearing my Slytherin scarf and she was wearing her Gryffindor one. Adrian had told me that we'd become the gossip of the school now. It surprised me how little I cared. He'd said that and I decided I'll tell him that I liked her. I mean, he knew anyway and he wouldn't hide anything from me, would he?

"_I think I like her." I'd said, sitting up straight on my bed. He glanced up at me and grinned._

"_Yeah I know, but it's good to hear you admit it." He smiled. "So what are going to do?"_

"_What do you mean?" My brow furrowed._

"_Are you going to ask her out or are you going to just be 'friends' with her which will slowly drive you to suicide and I tell you now, I am not going to be the one scraping Scorpius off the Astronomy tower." He raised his eyebrows at me, and I couldn't help but laugh._

"_She doesn't like me like that. Plus her cousins would freak."_

"_Since when do you care what the Potter-Weasley clan thinks?" He blushed slightly when he said 'Potter' but it faded quickly so I ignored it. "And wake up, Scorp, she loves you. You can see it when she looks at you, she goes all gooey. And so do you. It's sickeningly cute to watch you." He grimaced jokingly. I laughed and threw a magazine at him and it soon turned into a 'throw anything you can' fight._

Rose and I sat on a wooden fence, and I noticed her shivering even with her many layers. She wasn't wearing her hoodie, but just a thick sweater. It pained me to see her suffer, even if it was just cold. I took of my hoodie, revealing my short-sleeved black t-shirt, and I gave it to her. She looked at me like I was insane.

"Are you insane? You'll freeze!" She cried, half laughing.

"I'm fine, but look at you, you're already freezing. But it's not that cold." I said, trying to ignore the fact that I was now frozen. She laughed at me in disbelief. "I'm fine, look!" I jumped off the fence and made a snow angel, making my arms like icicles but I didn't care. She smiled. I was making her smile and that was all that mattered. She jumped off too and made her own snow angel. I helped her up and we admired our imprints. I grabbed my wand and engraved 'Rose' under her angel and 'Scorpius' under mine. She looked up at me and smiled. I had the sudden urge to kiss her, but I thought better of it. Instead I rested my fingers gently on her eye. It had healed a lot, it was just a bit purple in places now, but she still winced.

"Sorry." I mumbled. "Does it still hurt?"

"Not as much, but still a hell of a lot." She tried to laugh it off but I knew that this was killing her. Not the black eye, but that it was her cousin who gave it to her. I made a mental note to kill Dominique and then I started walking her back to the castle.

She was still shivering, so I wrapped my arm around her and held her close to me. I loved how her body fit so well into mine, how her head fit perfectly into my shoulder. It was like I was a jigsaw puzzle and she completed me.

_I can't believe you just thought that. How corny are you?_

I smiled to myself, thinking that, corny as it was, it was true. I looked down at Rose, and she looked up at me, and I realised that I loved her.

_I love her._

"What? You're looking at me funny." She said, looking confused. My eyes drifted from her eyes to her lips. She was still looking puzzled. I smiled and leaned down and I kissed her gently on the lips. Just a small kiss, but enough to make her look shocked. Then she smiled, and kissed me back. I responded back with more force, and I ran my fingers through her beautiful red hair. We broke apart, our faces still touching, and my one hand caressed her face, the other on the small of her back.

"I've wanted to do that for a while." I breathed.

"Next time, don't wait." She breathed back, her face glowing. I smiled and gave her another quick kiss. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and we started walking back to the castle again, with a smile etched on both of our faces. When we separated to go to our common rooms, I gave her another quick kiss and I bade her goodnight.

"Ooh aren't you all smiley?" Was the first thing I heard when I walked into my dorm. Adrian had his signature 'raised eyebrow' look on his face. "So did you tell her you like her or am I stuck scraping Scorpius off the Astronomy tower?"

"I kissed her." I said, still smiling, getting undressed.

"Ooh big step up for Scorpius, and for me. Now I don't have to start learning how to scrape…" I threw a pillow at him. "No but seriously Scorp, I'm happy for you. But I'm about to steal your thunder." He grinned.

"Who did you fuck?" I sighed, and he wore a look of mock offence.

"No one!" I raised _my _eyebrow at him. "No seriously, no one. But I did make out with Little Potter."

"_What_?"

"Told you I'd steal your thunder."

"When?"

"Few weeks ago, and we've been meeting up since then."

"How did I not know this?"

"Because you've been busy with Weasley. Or do I have to call her Rose seeing as we're practically cousins now?" He grinned in pretend thought.

"You like her then?"

"She's cute. But I don't know whether I like her properly or not, some people aren't as lucky as you Scorp." He winked, and I laughed.

"Hold on, isn't she a fourth year?"

"Yeah."

"So isn't that a bit young for you?"

"Only two years."

"Actually, yeah, it is you. You'd get with a three year old if it had the right body." I laughed. "And now I'm getting that image and it's very disturbing…" Adrian nodded in agreement and we both shuddered.

"No, I do like her, but I don't think I 'love' her or whatever. I mean, I've only been sort of seeing her for like a few weeks."

"Fair enough. I'm shattered mate."

"Me too."

"Night."

"Night cuz!" He practically yelled, accidentally falling out of his bed, which made me almost fall out of _my _bed laughing.

"Night cuz." I grinned, still laughing a little bit.

_Today was good._ I thought as I turned over and shut my eyes. _We should have today again._

**__AUTHOR'S NOTE**

******i can't believe this. That was seven pages on word and it still looks like nothing. Grrrrr...  
>my finger's gone weird just from writing all this aswell. awkward.<strong>

**i know it probably seems like i'm rushing things as we're only six chapters in, but this took place about a month after the events of chapter 5, and a few weeks after the events of the Rose POV of this chapter. But i thought it was cute, and i loved the Adrian 'night cuz' thing, i just couldn't help myself, haha.**

**well i know i won't post another chapter before new year so happy new year! chapter 7 will be up sometime after the 2nd, but maybe not too soon because i go back to school on the 4th or something (yaaay...) and i'll be busy revising and crap, got my chemistry exam on the 18th and i haven't even picked up my revision guide. i'm so going to fail.**

**so yea, happy new year, i hope you like this chapter,**

**thanks **

**beccasophX**


	7. Chapter 7

_It was a Monday when my lover told me_

_"Never pay the Reaper with love only"_

_What could i say to you except "I love you"_

_and "I'd give my life for yours"_

_**-Lucky; ****Bif Naked**_

**CHAPTER 7**

**SCORPIUS MALFOY**

I don't know what was going on between me and Rose. Not really anyway. I don't think we were dating. Malfoys don't have steady girlfriends. I was not going to have one, not yet anyway. Adrian thought I was being stupid. Actually, I think the words he used were "fucking clueless bastard". We'd had a bit of an argument about it, to be honest. Not a proper one, and it wasn't really an argument, more just him telling me I was a dickhead and me protesting.

"_You're being ridiculous." He spoke bluntly when I walked into the room._

"_What's with the sweet talk?" I grinned, but he didn't smile back._

"_You're acting like a complete douchebag. I personally don't know why Rose bothers with you if this is how you treat her."_

"_What? I haven't done anything!"_

"_Exactly." He stated simply._

"_I would _never _hurt Rose. And I wouldn't allow anyone else to either." I spoke dangerously as I pictured Dominique. She's lucky I didn't strangle her after she punched Rose, but Rose had stopped me from doing anything._

"_That's not what I meant and you know it. You like her, you kiss her, you go on and on about her, you spend most of your days with her, and yet you still won't admit she's your girlfriend? Be a man and ask her out." He spoke the words flatly, but I could see the anger in his eyes. I knew he cared about Little Potter, and she cared about Rose, so he felt it was his responsibility to get me and her together properly. Except I wasn't ready for that._

"_I don't want to ask her out."_

"_Bullshit."_

"_I _don't _want to ask her out. I like her; you know I do, but not enough."_

"_Not enough to risk your Malfoy reputation?"_

"_That's not what I meant."_

"_Bullshit." He repeated, "You've got some weird thing about being your dad. Except here's the thing: _you're not. _I see you waste your time with loads of girls that don't mean anything to you, and I guess that's fine because they're not right for you anyway, but you don't do it for the fun. You do it because you think it's what your father would've done. You've got some deluded fantasy where you have to be exactly like him, or turn out exactly how he planned. That's never going to happen, and you know that already because you're in love with Rose. You've got to understand that you're not him, you're never going to be him, and you shouldn't _need _to be him. Grow a pair, and ask her the fuck out." That wasn't true. I wouldn't let him think that it was true._

"_I don't 'need' to be my father. I'm already better." I attempted a stab at my usual cockiness, but his words had thrown me. I didn't want to be my father. Everyone already did a double-take when they saw me, thinking they'd seen the younger Draco Malfoy. I knew I looked the same as he did at my age – although I think I was taller – but I didn't want to further that likeness._

"_Then ask her out."_

"_No." I said bluntly, and I saw a flicker of annoyance cross his face. Adrian did not like being told 'no'._

"_You're being injudicious. You can't argue with vocabulary like that." He joked, and I knew he was trying to lighten the mood. He didn't like it when we argued, and nor did I. We were too close for arguments. Hey, we were softies at heart._

He'd left shortly after that, not because of the argument, but because he was meeting Little Potter. Before leaving, he'd rummaged around his trunk for something. I hadn't paid much attention to what it was but he walked past me smelling strongly of aftershave.

I wasn't sure I wanted to know all the details when he strolled back in. I noticed his hair was more ruffled now than it was when he'd left. I smiled to myself, unnoticed by Adrian. He'd just begun to change out of his clothes when he started speaking. He kept his back firmly turned towards me.

"I stand by what I said before." He said.

"I know you do."

"But I don't want you to be mad at me for it."

"I'm not."

"Good."

And that was the end of that. It almost made me laugh, because he'd been so annoyed or angry, even _passionate_ about the topic before, and now we were both speaking stiffly. I scolded myself for speaking to him in such a cold way, and, in an attempt to redeem myself, I brought up Little Potter.

"Have fun on your little make-out session?" I asked, grinning. Adrian turned around to look at me, smiling that funny lopsided smile he had whenever Little Potter was mentioned.

"Yes actually, you'd be surprised at how… adept she is at pleasing me." He winked, a suggestive tone to his voice.

"Nice… I really want to know the details." I said sarcastically, jokingly grimacing. We both laughed.

"Believe me, if you did you'd be jealous." He grinned, taking pleasure in my, er, _willingness _to hear every dirty little detail.

"Tell me you didn't fuck her? Because, Adrian, that should be considered paedophilia." He laughed at my continual grimaces, and shook his head.

"Nah, I don't want to. Don't think she'd let it get that far anyway."

"Yeah, I get it." And truthfully, I did. I felt the same about Rose, not because I didn't _want _her, but because I knew it'd be better to wait with her. I don't know what it was, but something told me I should hold off with Rose, until she was ready. I wouldn't pressure her into that. Adrian looked at me knowingly for a moment, and then returned to his bed, staring at nothing in particular.

We spent the rest of the night in silence, both of us knowing where the other's thoughts were. It got to quarter to eleven when I remembered I'd promised to meet Rose on the hour. I got that familiar funny feeling in my stomach – I still hadn't figured out what that was – but I shrugged it off, it'd become easy to ignore.

I wandered down to our meeting spot, knowing I wouldn't run into Filch. He was somewhere on the third floor, I think. I was meeting Rose in the library; it'd somewhat become our sanctuary. Rose loved it there, and seeing her eyes light up was what made up my world. Her eyes were what I loved most about her; so deep I could lose myself in them, so brown it was like chocolate, so sparkling it was like looking at the stars. Her eyes kept me sane.

I lost myself in my thoughts – thinking about her, her eyes, her scent, her hair, her fair skin, her freckles, the way she kissed me, the way she trusted me, the way she had me in love. And I was. I knew I loved her. I loved her with every fibre of my being, and sometimes I wondered how I knew her for five years before realising it. I loved her so much it sometimes hurt, and it was true what I'd said to Adrian. I would _never _hurt her, and I would never let anyone else hurt her. It amazed me how beautiful she still looked when snuggled up in a hoodie and jeans, or with a black eye. No, she wasn't beautiful. She surpassed beautiful. There are no words to accurately describe her. She was everything. _She was everything to me_.

I hadn't noticed Rose strolling towards me; I was so engrossed in my thoughts. She was only a few feet away from me when I saw her. She looked as stunning as usual, and the bruise around her eye was healing quickly. As I studied it, she saw me looking and quickly hid that side of her face. I gently tipped her head back towards me and gave her a soft kiss on her lovely pink lips.

"You're beautiful, even with that. There's nothing bad enough in this world that would ever change that." I whispered to her, my face only an inch away from hers. A smile crept across her face, and her eyes shone. I suddenly realised we were acting like boyfriend and girlfriend, and I wasn't sure whether I liked that or not. I loved Rose, I truly did. She was my entire world. But I wasn't ready to be in a steady relationship with someone, even if I did love her. Malfoys didn't have relationships. They had marriages, but they were rarely filled with love. I knew for certain that my grandfather didn't love my grandmother. She loved him, she would do anything for him, but he regarded her as a servant, an object. Something he got bored of easily. That's what I hated most. The thought of being used like that, loving someone and not having them love me back. It scared me.

"You always know the right things to say." Rose broke my thoughts, smiling up at me with tender gaze. Her arms were wrapped around my neck while mine were wrapped firmly around her waist. I never wanted to let go of her. I met her eyes, and there was a moment when we both just stood with each other in silence. I noted then that in that moment, yes, I wanted to kiss her, but mostly I just wanted to hold her. I wanted to hold her close to me and never let her go. I wanted to cling to her; I wanted to have her tightly in my grasp. I didn't want to be away from her. I loved Rose, more than anything else in the entire world.

"It helps that the person who gave it to you is a complete bitch." I said, breaking the silence. I saw her smile–and then I saw her falter. I saw her registering what I said. I saw the anger behind her eyes.

"That's my cousin! You can't just say that kind of thing about her!" I knew she would've yelled if we were allowed to be there.

"What do you mean? Of course I can! She gave you _a black eye_, Rose!" I protested, and then I suddenly realised my mistake. She knew I didn't like Dominique – she knew it well. But it didn't mean Rose had stopped caring about her, or that she wouldn't defend her. I didn't think about this, and it hurt to see that much anger in her sweet face.

"That doesn't matter! She's still my family, and you can't say that stuff about her!" I saw the fire in Rose's eyes, saw the anger, and I felt more ashamed of myself than I ever had.

"I'm sorry, Rose; I didn't mean to upset you, honestly. I didn't think. I'm sorry." I grovelled, looking her straight in the eyes. The anger had not lessened, and it pained me.

"Yeah, well, sorry won't cut it. That's my _family_. You're right though, Scorpius, you didn't think. And you don't think. Do you realise how much it hurts me to hear you say this stuff?" She demanded of me. I couldn't help but think she was overreacting: I'd apologised, hadn't I? I immediately scolded myself for thinking that, Dominique was just a sensitive subject with her. I knew this. She didn't know whether to hate her or to love her.

"Rose, I… I'm sorry. I don't know what else to say." I stood there, hearing the plea in my voice.

"I guess its best you don't say anything then." Her voice was calm and steady, but her eyes still raged. She looked at me one last lingering second, and then she turned and walked away. I felt like a heavy weight was sitting on my chest. It was there all the way back to the common room, and into the dormitory. I didn't acknowledge Adrian, and he knew me well enough to stay clear of me when my face was like this. It wasn't anger. It was misery. Honestly, I'd have preferred anger. With anger you get a powerful drive, but with misery you feel dejected. You feel desolated. And that's exactly how I felt. I climbed into bed, feeling like I'd lost something. My chest ached, and I couldn't stop thinking about that last look she gave me. So full of rage, full of anger, but also of depression. To see Rose's eyes – Rose's eyes that entranced me, Rose's eyes that enchanted me, Rose's eyes that I loved so much – look at me that way… I felt aimless, I felt scattered. I felt abandoned and helpless, and all I could think was how much I needed her right now. I needed to touch her, hold her so she stayed real, to reach out to her so she wouldn't leave. I couldn't even cry.

Malfoys didn't cry.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**I know Rose is overreacting, she's starting to annoy me actually. I know, it's my story; I could change it. but that's the way _this _Rose would react. hence the annoyingness. **

**Sorry it's taken me so long to update, busy busy busy! I'm currently writing chapter 8, so that should be done soon. I know it's weird that I'm writing chapter 8 when i've only just uploaded chapter 7, but I had ideas. I'M EMBRACING MY CREATIVITY! hahaha;)**

**I know this chapter looks short, but it was goddamn 5 pages on word. It made my hand acheeeeeeee-.-  
>don't be too hard on me, i know it's full of Scorpius' feelings and stuff, but that's done for a reason. you see how much he loves Rose, how much he just wants to be with her. you see a bit of the AdrianLily storyline deepening too, and I think they're my solid couple in this. We'll see...  
><strong>

**thanks guys!**

**beccasophX**

**CHAPTER 8 SPOILER:**

"You're not going with Scorpius?" Lily asked, as we traipsed around Hogsmeade in search of dresses. "Did you guys have a fight or something?" I felt the tears brimming my eyes as I recalled our argument. I felt so stupid! It was over nothing, I knew he didn't like Dominique, why did this change anything? I wanted to go and make up, but I felt him avoiding me. I knew when I was looking at him that he knew I was, and I could always sense a mental battle in his head deciding whether to look back at me or to ignore me. The latter always won out.

"Yes," My shoulders slumped and I immediately felt bad. She was so excited about Adrian taking her that I felt horrible for putting a damper on her mood. "It's probably for the best anyway, with Albus and Dominique..." Her face fell slightly, but it soon turned into a hard resolve. She was a fierce fourteen year old, I thought absent-mindedly.

"Screw Albus." Lily spoke through her clenched teeth. I'd forgotten about their argument, and I mentally chastised myself for bringing him up. "We'll find you something gorgeous to wear anyway, and then Scorpius will be jealous out of his mind. I may even get Adrian to tell him that you're thinking of dating someone else. Maybe that'll wake him up and then he'll realise that you should be with him, and he should ask you out already." She got that happy vibe again after thinking about Adrian. I'd nodded, but I couldn't help but feel horrible. Lily thought this was all his fault, when really it was all mine. I ruined everything.


	8. Chapter 8

_I'd give up forever to touch you_

_'Cause i know that you feel me somehow_

_You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be_

_And I don't want to go home right now_

_**-Iris; Goo Goo Dolls**  
><em>

**CHAPTER 8**

**ROSE WEASLEY**

"Students, students, settle down." McGonagall called us to attention after we'd all finished our breakfast. She had that usual crisp air to her voice. I remembered my father and Uncle Harry telling me how she was always like that, and how Professor Dumbledore who preceded her was quite the opposite. They'd gone silent after that. "I have an announcement to make. I am pleased to say that the three hundred and ninety-fourth annual Masquerade Snowflake Ball is to be held in two weeks." The hall broke out in excited whispers from the girls and mostly groans from the boys. I thought of dancing with Scorpius and I smiled to myself, before remembering our argument. I felt my eyes well up and tried to brush the thought aside by listening to Lily's excited giggles next to me. She was already talking about dress shopping. I shook my head at her; she didn't waste any time, did she? I laughed and turned back to McGonagall, who was trying to catch the students' attention again. Eventually the noise died down and she was able to continue her speech. "This, of course, is no reason to show yourselves up. We teachers will be handing out punishments to pupils who behave badly before or during the event." She said sternly, and I saw Fred roll his eyes. McGonagall always gave out warnings like this; we were all pretty used to it. "As of before," she continued, "the Snowflake Ball is for fourth year students or above, although you may bring a younger student if you wish." There was a collective groan from all third year and below students, and I saw Lily beam. This was the first year she was able to go, as before she was a third year, and you could see the excitement on each of her delicate features.

McGonagall finished speaking and I found my eyes drifting towards where Scorpius was sat. How did it go so wrong? All he did was defend me, and I had to go and shout at him for no reason. I don't even know why I did it. It's not like Dominique has been particularly nice to me lately. She hasn't even been horrible. She's my family, and she's _supposed _to be my best friend, and yet she gives me a goddamn black eye? She's fucking twisted. And yet, some small part of me wants to make up with her, to forgive her and go back to how it was before. I know that's stupid, but now she's constantly with Albus – to his… pleasure – and it means I can't talk to him either. The only person I've been able to talk to lately is Lily. She seemed to understand, which I couldn't help think was odd. She was two years younger than me, yet she seemed to get what Dominique couldn't. She understood my situation with Scorpius, because I'd told her everything. I'd told her that he hadn't asked me out even though we met up every single day and he kissed me like we were dating every single day. I'd told her how I felt almost guilty for liking – or whatever it was that I felt – Scorpius, because I knew it was keeping me away from my two best friends. I'd told her everything until I was in tears, and she understood. I'm not sure how, but she did.

After our lessons were finished, I met Lily in the common room. We were discussing the kind of dresses we should wear, and it took my mind of Scorpius a little bit, but not much. We were laughing when Albus came up to us. For a moment I thought he was going to talk to me, but then I noticed his gaze was fixed on his little sister – and boy, did he look mad.

"_Adrian Zabini_?You're dating _Adrian Zabini_?" He shouted, causing several first years to cast around alarmed glances.

"Last I checked," replied Lily, coolly. I looked at her proudly; I would've spluttered and turned bright red.

"The hell you are! You are _not _going out with him. No sister of mine is going to date Zabini!" He roared. The whole common room was silent now, everyone listening to Albus rage at Lily. Lily's face looked so impassive I almost laughed.

"I'm your only sister, Al," she said in a bored voice, and I admired her courage to stand up to him. Or, in this case, ignore him.

"Your point is?"

"I'm pretty sure that _was _my point."

"I may not be able to control who _Rose _speaks to, but I can control who _you _speak to." He spoke my name like it was scum and the look on his face when he said it told me he thought as much. Suddenly, I felt dirty. I felt disgusting and contaminated. He was right, he couldn't control who I spoke to, but I knew he felt like I should've talked to him first. Part of me was outraged that he thought he could dictate what I did or didn't do, but the other part felt like I'd betrayed him somehow. His eyes flicked towards me. Anger flashed in them and I knew he thought that it was my fault that Lily was dating Adrian, like it was my influence. I suddenly felt sick to my stomach, and I knew that queasy feeling wouldn't go away easily.

"No you can't. You can't control who either of us speaks to. You do realise you condemned Rose for _speaking _to Scorpius? You're meant to be her best friend, and you turned against her because she spoke to someone you don't like. You can't control who she talks to, is friends with, or loves." Albus' eyes looked at me in shock, and I realised that Lily had pretty much said that I loved Scorpius in front of the person who hated him. "You can't control who I date either. Adrian and I are _happy. _Don't you get it? Not everything revolves around _Albus Potter_, the son of the Boy Who Lived. Do you see James acting that way? No. You don't. You don't understand that you _don't _have a hold over me, and you _don't _have a hold over Rose. I can do what I like, and she can too. Grow up, and accept that you're not going to get your way all the time." Lily's control had snapped, and I saw the fire in her eyes, heard the rage in her voice. She stormed past Albus, who looked more confused than anything. I resisted the urge to laugh but his eyes soon turned towards me. I'd expected them to be full of fury, and they were. I tried to hold back but I felt a tear run down my cheek, and I saw his shock. He'd never seen me cry before. The fury was still there, but it was lessened slightly – but still only slightly. We froze there for a while, him staring at me like I was dirt on the bottom of his shoe and my trying to fight back the tears that my eyes seemed fixed on letting out. I think we both realised at the same time that the room was still silent, and he walked away. Recognising that there wasn't going to be more of a fight, the common room became noisy again. Everyone became distracted, although I heard snatches of conversations about what had just happened.

I stared intently at the fire, meeting no one's gaze, and I let the tears roll down my face. I was tired of holding them back; I needed to let them go. I hugged my knees and buried my face, and the tears just kept coming. Eventually I went up to my dorm room, still weeping because I found it too hard to stop. I let them flow out, and I sobbed harder and harder. I ran into my room, grateful that no one was in there. I cried and cried and cried until I couldn't breathe. I just prayed that it'd be over soon.

**XXXXX**

"You're not going with Scorpius?" Lily asked, as we traipsed around Hogsmeade in search of dresses. "Did you guys have a fight or something?" I felt my eyes brimming with tears as I recalled our argument. I felt so stupid! It was over nothing, I knew he didn't like Dominique, why did this change anything? I wanted to go and make up, but I felt him avoiding me. I knew when I was looking at him that he knew I was, and I could always sense a mental battle in his head deciding whether to look back at me or to ignore me. The latter always won out.

"Yes," My shoulders slumped and I immediately felt bad. She was so excited about Adrian taking her that I felt horrible for putting a damper on her mood. "It's probably for the best anyway, with Albus and Dominique..." Her face fell slightly, but it soon turned into a hard resolve. She was a fierce fourteen-year-old, I thought absent-mindedly.

"Screw Albus." Lily spoke through her clenched teeth. I'd forgotten about their argument, and I mentally chastised myself for bringing him up. "We'll find you something gorgeous to wear anyway, and then Scorpius will be jealous out of his mind. I may even get Adrian to tell him that you're thinking of dating someone else. Maybe that'll wake him up and then he'll realise that you should be with him, and he should ask you out already." She got that happy vibe again after thinking about Adrian. I'd nodded, but I couldn't help but feel horrible. Lily thought this was entirely his fault, when really it was all mine. I ruined everything.

We walked into a dress shop where Lily picked out dresses for me to try on. They were all beautiful – well, all except this pink one… it clashed horribly with my hair – but none of them took my breath away. None of them was right. I knew I had to have the perfect one, I couldn't explain why, but I needed it. Lily found hers though; a strapless, deep red dress. The skirt went just above her knees, and the bodice was embroidered with gold. She bought some gold heels and a gold mask to match and she was all set. She was the embodiment of a Gryffindor, but it suited her well. Money was never an issue with the Potters; Uncle Harry's fortune left by his parents started that, and then with the money from being Head of the Auror Office, while also being _Harry Potter, _kinda kept them rich. Of course, we Weasleys were quite well off aswell, with my father being an Auror, but he was always very conscious of spending money. Mother said it was because when he grew up he didn't have a lot of money, so he always makes sure he doesn't spend too much so he doesn't have to go back to that.

We were just about to leave the shop when I saw it. The dress. It was beautiful. I saw it and I knew it was perfect. It was a green silk sheath dress, and when I tried it on it came to about two inches above my knees. And it fitted like a glove. I found some silver shoes and a matching mask and then we headed back to the castle. I felt Lily's buzz of excitement as she walked beside me, and I saw the happy grin fixed on her face. I smiled to myself because I knew she was thinking about Adrian.

We were passing the Three Broomsticks when suddenly someone stepped in front of us. Adrian. I laughed as Lily's smile broadened and he pulled her into a kiss. Looking at them you could see how in love they were, and it almost brought sadness to my smile. Adrian made me think of Scorpius.

"Rose, darling!" He exclaimed in a posh accent, hugging me joyously. Adrian had a way of making everybody laugh. "Let me guess, dress shopping?" He returned to his usual voice and ran a hand through his dark hair.

"I don't know why I would be, seeing as you actually haven't asked me to the ball yet." Lily said, pretending to look upset. It amazed me how comfortable they were around each other, seeing as Lily was only fourteen _and _she had always been told by Albus – who could be surprisingly scary when he wanted to be – not to hang around with a Malfoy or a Zabini.

"Why do you think I came over here, Little Potter?" He grinned lopsidedly. I noticed he did that a lot around Lily. She smiled at her nickname. Only he used it. At least, that's what she thought; my guess was Scorpius probably used it too.

"Well it wasn't to grace us with your wit and charm, seeing as you're lacking in those." Lily grinned back, and Adrian took on a look of mock offence.

"You're breaking my heart here, Little Potter." He joked.

"So go on then, why are you here?" She asked, a look of false inquiry crossing her features. Adrian looked like he'd been waiting for this. I shook my head, knowing he probably planned it all out. He leapt up on a table that was outside a shop opposite the Three Broomsticks.

"Lily Potter, will you go to the ball with me?" He shouted so everyone could hear him, and he did indeed get lots of shocked looks from random passers-by. Apparently it wasn't known all over that a Zabini and a Potter were dating.

"Hmmm… well I suppose I can't say no after that, can I?" She teased him, and he jumped down from the table.

"So is that a yes, Potter?"

"I guess so, Zabini." He cupped her face and gently brought her lips to his. Giving her a gallant bow, he turned and walked into the Three Broomsticks. I realised with a pang he was probably meeting Scorpius. I forced my face to smile as Lily spoke dreamily about Adrian. She didn't seem to notice how controlled my smile was as she was off in her own little world. We walked back to the common room and I headed up to my dorm to put my dress away. Up until now I hadn't properly seen Dominique in the dorm; one of us was always up there before the other at night and out of there before the other in the morning, so I was a little shocked when I opened the door to see Dominique on her bed.

"What are you doing here?" She said immediately, throwing me a scathing look. I started to splutter but then I regained my control.

"This is my room." I stated, trying to keep my voice as steady as possible.

"It's mine too!" She spoke as if I'd said that it wasn't.

"Yeah, I know…" I said uncertainly, and she seemed to realise the stupidity of what she said. She didn't say anything, but the look in her eyes told me I was not welcome there. At first I was outraged – I had every right to be there, it was _my _room too! – but then I thought I didn't want to be there anyway. Why should I? _She's _the one who punched me! _She's _the one who stopped talking to me just for speaking to Scorpius. Why should I want to be around her?

I answered the question for myself: I missed her. I wanted to forgive her, but I don't want to talk to her. I don't want to apologise which I know she'd make me do. I didn't do anything wrong, why should I apologise? All I did was speak to Scorpius. And I hate myself for shouting at him. I defended her even though she punched me. I defended her even though she condemned me for speaking to someone she doesn't like. In fact, it wasn't even that. She hated me for not _telling _her, which I thought was even more retarded. It was when I was thinking all this when I realised why I'd got so mad at Scorpius. I didn't trust him. I liked him, I might even have loved him, but I didn't trust him. Not entirely anyway. I'd grown up with it being drilled into my head that Malfoys were bad, that I shouldn't be involved with them, that I should hate them. That lack of trust wasn't helped by knowing he used to pull girls into broom closets all the time, or knowing that he didn't care about them really; it was just a game. He had seemed different with me, but it probably seemed that way to the other girls as well. I'd got mad at Scorpius because I wanted him to prove to me that I was different, that I was special. I wanted him to show me. How was I supposed to know if he even cared about me at all?

**XXXXX**

***TWO WEEKS LATER***

"It's tonight!"

"Yes I know, Lily, you've told me six times already." I laughed at my younger cousin's restlessness. The Snowflake Ball was tonight, and Lily couldn't be more excited. In all fairness to her, this was the first time she was allowed to go, _and _she was going with Adrian Zabini. Honestly, if I were her I would've died by now.

"Yeah, but its tonight!" She squealed, and I shook my head at her again. She checked her watch and realised it was five o'clock. The ball was in three hours. "Oh my god, we have to start getting ready!"

"It's in three hours." I said questioningly, but she waved me off.

"Yes, but my hair takes _ages _to do, and I know yours too. Now come _on_!" I grimaced at the girl talk, but I complied anyway. Truth was, I was never really that type of girl. The one who cared about make-up and hair and clothes and guys. I just never thought it was that important. I liked looking good, and I liked people noticing that, but it never seemed dire to me like it did to Dominique or Fate. My hair did take ages to do, though, and that's part of the reason why I never bothered with it. It just never seemed to go straight enough or curly enough. It was always just somewhere in between, so I usually just put it up or clipped it back. Albus, Dominique, and I never went to the Snowflake ball before this either. We went to Hogsmeade instead, because all the teachers were policing the ball it was easy to get to the one-eyed witch statue and head into Hogsmeade for a few Butterbeers – or Firewhiskies in Albus' case – down at the Three Broomsticks. It was fun, a laugh, but that wasn't going to happen this year so I supposed I better enjoy it. We went to Lily's dorm to get ready, because she had everything there – curlers, straighteners, rollers, make-up, hair grips, headbands, hugely tacky ornamental things to put in your hair, _everything_.

In the end it did take us about three hours, after both of us showering, doing our hair and make-up, and putting our dresses, shoes and mask, and putting our things in our bags. Lily looked stunning. Her jet black hair was down, cascading down her back in a tumble of waves. She wore false eyelashes on her eyes and a soft pink lip gloss on her lips. When she was all ready I would've said she looked my age, not two years younger. She looked beautiful. When I looked in the mirror, I almost didn't think it was me. My hair was up in a loose bun, and the few strands at the front that were left out were curled to perfection. Lily had applied liquid eyeliner to my eyes, and they definitely made them pop. I pulled on my shoes and I held my mask – it was one of those ones that had a stick – and we walked out of the dorm and down to the common room. There were only a few people there, others having already made their way to the ball, but everyone there was also in dresses and suits, including Dominique, and lots of heads turned when we walked down the stairs. I smiled nervously at a few people whereas Lily just full on beamed. She was so excited; it was almost adorable, except, with the way she looked, she couldn't be classed as adorable. She was beautiful. It'd never hit me before just how stunning she was, but at the moment I realised just how exquisite she was. I felt the corners of my mouth turn up into a proud smile as we wandered down to the Great Hall where the ball was being held.

**XXXXX**

**SCORPIUS MALFOY**

Adrian had dragged me into the Great Hall for the ball. I didn't particularly want to go, but I couldn't help perk up a bit when he told me Rose was going. Not that I let him know, though. He was meeting Lily in there, so we went in to get some drinks. I poured a bit of the Firewhisky I kept in a flask into mine; I'd had a feeling I'd need it if I was going to see Rose.

And that's when she walked in.

Beautiful no longer adequately described her. I noticed she wore Slytherin colours; a green dress and silver shoes. I couldn't help but feel as though she was wearing them for me. I turned to Adrian to tell him Lily was here, but he'd already gone. I looked back over and I saw him sweep her a gallant bow. I smirked; he loved her so obviously it was actually funny. They moved onto the dance floor where a few people were slow-dancing. I got out my flask, took a big swig, and walked over to Rose.

"My my, don't you look good?" I said, my usual smirk on my lips as I tried to act normal. Rose looked into the eyes behind my mask and registered who was talking to her.

"Scorpius." It wasn't a question as much as a statement, but it did have the air of wondering if I was actually talking to her or not. In all fairness, I hadn't exactly been talking to her lately. Not that I didn't have a reason, but I hadn't gone out of my way to try and get her back. I'd been sort of avoiding her actually.

"Dance with me." I imitated her in the way of not asking a question while pulling off my mask and putting it on the table next to hers.

"Why do you think I would want to dance with you?" She said, but letting me lead her to the dance floor all the same. She even said it jokingly. I wondered why she changed her mind about being mad at me…

"Because, for starters, you're wearing my colours." I grinned, pulling her in close and wrapping my arms around her waist. She looked down and looked surprised at what she was wearing.

"I hadn't noticed." But I saw something in her eyes that told me she had, on some level anyway. She then wrapped her arms around my neck and looked into my eyes. We stood like that for a while, neither of us talking, just staring into each other's eyes. We got some shocked looks from people around us, but mostly we just got a disapproving look from McGonagall because we weren't wearing our masks. There was a knowing stare behind it though, and it sort of freaked me out... I focused on Rose again as she buried her head in my shoulder, and I felt her steady heartbeat against my chest. I felt my own heart race, and I think she felt it because she lifted her head up and stared at me, a puzzling look crossing her features. Her mouth was slightly parted, and her brow furrowed. And I kissed her. She seemed surprised at first but then she kissed back with a matching force to how I kissed her. Again, I realised how much I loved her. We broke apart, our heads resting against each other's and our breathing heavy.

We stayed on the dance floor until the night ended. My hands slotted perfectly into the curves of her waist, and her head snuggled into my shoulder. When we had to leave, I held her hand and walked her back to her common room. When we reached it, she leaned back against the wall and pulled me into a kiss. It had all the intensity that we always did, but the gentleness that showed that she'd really forgiven me, and that I'd forgiven her. Neither of us had even apologised, but we had a silent agreement to forget it when I asked her to dance.

She went through her portrait hole, and when it had swung back into position I waved my wand. Then I started walking back to the Slytherin common room, smiling at the fact that she'd think of me before she went to bed.

**XXXXX**

**ROSE WEASLEY**

I walked into my dorm room, grateful to find my roommates fast asleep, and I started to get into my pyjamas. I was about to get into the bed when I saw a deep red rose on the pillow, with a note next to it that said,

"My Red Rose.

Thankyou. –S"

I felt a broad smile creep across my face as I read it, and then I placed the rose in a tall, glass vase on top of my dresser and I propped up the note beside it. I got into my bed and buried my head in my pillow, grinning at how much it reminded me of Scorpius' shoulder.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**hey guys! well I've put a lot of work into this one, and I've rewritten it a few times, but I'm happy with it now so hopefully you will be too. I hope that ScorpiusPOV bit wasn't too rushed for you guys, it's meant to be spread out over a few hours. **

**well you knew I was going to say 'My Red Rose' somewhere in that, and there you have it. I think I'm going to make that what he calls her a lot now, I originally just planned on it being said once and you get that moment when someone says the name of the book or something like that and you're like "OMG" and get really overexcited... or is it just me that that happens to?**

**thanks guys!**

**beccasophX**


	9. Chapter 9

_I know now_

_Just quite how_

_My life and love might still go on_

_In your heart_

_In your mind_

_I'll stay with you for all of time_

_**-Wherever You Will Go; The Calling**  
><em>

**CHAPTER 9**

**SCORPIUS MALFOY**

After the ball it seemed everyone thought Rose and I were dating. That didn't surprise me; after all we had been dancing – and kissing – in plain view. What surprised me was how much it didn't bother me. I shrugged it off. If someone asked me directly if we were going out, I said no because we weren't. We just sort of acted like it, even in public. Rose and I never talked about it, but I know she said no too. It also surprised me how much it didn't bother her either. I thought it would've seeing as Albus and Dominique were already not talking to her, and I knew she wanted them back. She seemed as though she had fully given up on them. I didn't complain, of course; I never liked either of them. But seeing Rose's face everytime she caught sight of one of them, it made my heart break as much as I knew it broke hers. She never said anything, though. She just brushed it off like it meant nothing to her. I admired that, the way she was strong enough not to get caught up in her cousins' pettiness, but it also saddened me. She was burying her emotions, pushing down her feelings of hurt and abandonment, so she could put on a good face. I hated knowing she was in pain, but there was nothing I could do. I hated the helplessness of that too. I couldn't help her. As much as I wanted to, I couldn't. So instead I just tried to be there for her. I wanted to prove to her that she could trust me, because I knew she wasn't entirely there yet. She'd never said anything, but I could see it in her eyes. Those eyes that I loved so much.

DADA became my new favourite lesson. Rose used to sit with Dominique, but she could hardly do that now, so she sat with me and Adrian. They got along really well, and I took credit for part of that. The other part was, of course, Lily. They both loved her and cared about her, and Rose understood that he loved her, and knew he was a good match for Lily. They'd developed a good friendship because of it, and when we were all together I couldn't believe just last year they were enemies. Well, me and her more than him and her, but me and Adrian came as sort of a package deal so there was inevitable animosity between them before. Now they laughed together like they'd been friends since childhood, and there was a certain something behind both of their eyes, something that said that they regarded each other like siblings. I felt smugly responsible for that, although I did have to hand out some credit to Little Potter.

Usually in DADA, Adrian and I slacked off, knowing that we were good anyway. We could both easily scrape 'Outstandings' in our NEWTs, just as we had done for our OWLs. But Rose forced us to actually do work, which lead us to make cracks about her geekiness. She knew we were joking though, and she joined in, and I was happy that she didn't take it personally. I knew some girls who would automatically go defensive, but Rose had a good sense of humour and nearly always wore a big grin that lit up her delicate features. There was no hiding how her face fell when she saw Albus though. I could tell that's who she missed the most. I didn't question it, because it made sense to me. Dominique had been her best friend, but had also punched her. Not to mention she was a stuck up whore, but that was just my opinion. I knew she was closer to Albus anyway, that definitely made sense to me because I knew she saw Albus more often and could confide in him with stuff that she couldn't tell Dominique. He didn't judge her. At least, he didn't use to.

I was thinking about all this when Adrian nudged me, signalling the end of class and therefore the end of the day. I'd been lost in thought most of the lesson so Rose was looking at me reproachfully. I laughed and took hold of her hand, lacing her fingers through mine. She smiled and squeezed my hand, but then I saw her face fall. I followed her gaze and saw Albus. He wasn't looking our way when I looked but I knew he just had. He walked out the room, throwing us a dirty look.

That did it.

As we walked out of the classroom I gave Rose a quick kiss and said, "You know what, I'll catch you up." She gave me a puzzled look, but turned and went anyway, and I followed the direction I knew Albus was going in. Finally, I caught a glimpse of his dark hair. "Potter!" I shouted, and he froze. He knew my voice well, and he slowly turned. He'd given me time to catch up to him, and when I did I saw his lip curl.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" He sneered. I resisted the urge to punch him – and believe me that took a lot of restraint. It seemed to show because he wore a slightly amused expression on his face.

"I want you to talk to Rose." I spoke as calmly as I could around someone I had a distinct hatred for.

"That's it?" He almost looked surprised, and then his eyes narrowed. "Why should I?"

"Because you're being stupid." He opened his mouth to speak but I cut him off. "Look, Albus, I know we aren't friends. Wasn't that just the understatement of the year? What I mean is..." I searched around for the words. "I know you don't like me, and I don't particularly like you either, but Rose needs you. She's trying to put on a good face and pretend like she doesn't but I know she does. She misses you. This thing with you and her, it's petty. It's petty and stupid and it's taking its toll on her. She needs her friends. And she needs her family. Believe me; if I could help it I wouldn't be saying this to you. But I don't like to see her the way she is. She's all smiles on the outside but you can see the hurt in her eyes. She's got Lily, and that's good for her, but she needs you back." I'd started to ramble and I was aware of it, but it seemed the message had got through. Albus studied me thoughtfully, and for a few agonising moments he didn't speak. I longed for him to say something, which was odd because I was used to wanting him to shut the hell up. Finally, after what seemed like a year, he spoke.

"You really care about her, don't you?"

"I… what?" I was completely caught off guard; I hadn't expected that at all. I'd expected a no, or a punch, but not that.

"You really care about her, don't you?" He repeated, with the air of someone talking to a child. I pushed my annoyance aside.

"Yeah. Yeah, I do."

"Do you love her?" My figuring was he'd asked this question more out of curiosity than anything else. What shocked me the most, though, was how ready I was to answer the question.

"Yes." I said, and Albus laughed. It wasn't the harsh laugh I usually got, but it was genuine. That made me more confused than ever.

"A Malfoy in love with a Weasley. It's almost poetic." He grinned, not at me but more to himself if anything. "She loves you too, you know. I've seen the way she looks at you and, even though it makes me what to throw up, I think you're, er, good for her or whatever." I could see the pain it brought him to say that last sentence and I almost laughed. I didn't though. I needed him to have a good impression of mine and Rose's relationship so he would tell Dominique to fuck off. And if he did, he'd probably use those words anyway.

"You know, if you weren't such an ass, we probably would've been friends." I said, laughing. Then I stopped myself; it felt wrong to be saying that, and even more wrong to be laughing with him, but the fact was, it was true.

"You know, sometimes I think the exact same thing."

**XXXXX**

I was all packed and ready for going back home for the Christmas holidays when I heard a tapping on my window. I looked around to see an owl there, a small note attached to her leg. I opened the window to let her in and she flew inside. She stuck out her leg for me, and I untied the note. I unfolded the parchment, and immediately smiled because I knew the handwriting. I smelled her sweet perfume on the parchment. It was intoxicating.

"_Scorpius. Meet me in the library at eleven. –R"_

So, when it turned eleven I met her in the library. I couldn't help but think our usual meet up spot wasn't exactly romantic, and that we could probably go somewhere more exciting, but it was perfect for us. It was… familiar, and it made her happy. Plus it wasn't locked at night which made it very easy to get into. She was already there when I showed up, sitting on one of the seating areas at the back, and she stood up and wrapped her arms around my neck when I was close enough.

"I was beginning to think you weren't coming."

"Ah, Rose. My beautiful red Rose. Why would I ever pass up a chance to see you?" She smiled at me calling her that, and brought her lips to mine in a tender embrace. It started off gentle and then it intensified as she pushed me against the wall, our lips never ungluing. She lowered her arm to my back, digging her nails in, and I ran my fingers through her hair. I turned us around, instead pushing her against the wall. My mouth left hers and made their way from her lips down her neck, to her collarbone, and then back up to her lips. She let out a soft moan of pleasure and then reached her hand up my shirt. I picked her up, wrapping her legs around my waist and holding her to the wall again. I would've happily stayed there kissing her for hours. I felt her try and take off my shirt and that's when I stopped. I let go of her, stepping back. I wouldn't do that to her. Not now. Not here. She looked shocked, and she bit her lip.

"What are you doing?" She asked, her voice small. I hated hearing her like that; it pained me to hear her sound so hurt, especially because that's even in the slightest what I wanted to do.

"I won't do that to you, Rose. Not now, anyway." She looked like I'd slapped her. I reached out to comfort her but she moved away. I felt a weight drop in my stomach; the _last _thing I'd wanted to do was upset her, and now I had.

"Why not? I thought you liked me like that…" Her voice was still small, and she looked like she was about to cry.

"I do, Rose."

"No you don't, if you did you would do that with me. I want you Scorpius. All I want is you."

"I want you too, Rose, you have no idea how hard this is for me to do. But I won't do that to you know."

"Why not?" She sounded more distressed now, her voice flaring angrily. I mentally kicked myself because I'd made her angry. _I'd _done that. I didn't want her to be mad at me again.

"Because I don't want to ruin this!" I shouted, realising I'd yelled only after I registered the look on her face. I lowered my voice, "Rose, I love what we have. I don't even know what it is we have, but I love it. And I love... being with you. If we do _that_, it'll just ruin it. I don't want that. Just please, please don't be mad at me."

"I don't want that either. I really like you, Scorpius."

"I like you too." I smiled at her, and she pulled me into a tight embrace. "I'm almost sad that I'm not going to see you for weeks. And that never happens." I grinned and she kissed me through my smile. "I guess for you I'll make an exception." My hand found hers and our fingers laced together as I walked her to her common room. She looked hungrily into my face, as if she was afraid she wouldn't see me again. The fact was it was true, to some degree at least; I wouldn't see her for a few weeks because of the holidays. She was going back to her family and I was going back to mine. I'd been looking forward to seeing my parents, I always did when it was time to go home for Christmas, but suddenly I dreaded it. The next day I'd be heading on a train to King's Cross and I'd meet up with my mother and father, and I wanted to stall it. I wanted to save these precious hours of darkness for when the daylight came we'd both be leaving. I didn't want to be away from my Rose.

"I bet you miss me already." Rose teased, unaware that she had just voiced my thoughts. I led her to her common room, and as she went to go inside she paused, hovering for a moment. She turned and said, "Albus spoke to me. He said he was sorry." I felt increasingly smug, seeing as I was the one who brought that around. I didn't let my face show that, though.

"Well, what do you know? Potter's got some sense." I said in mock thoughtfulness, and she playfully punched my arm. Then she stood on her tip-toes and gave me a quick kiss.

"Thankyou." She said quietly, and then she climbed through the portrait hole. The last thing I saw before the portrait swung shut was her strawberry-scented red hair.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**I know I'm posting this chapter like a day after the eighth, but I couldn't help it! I actually really need to go to bed now, I've got school tomorrow and I actually need to get there on time...**

**But anyway, I know this chapter seems a bit short compared to the last one, but I wanted to tie up a few ends before they left for the holidays. The story isn't over yet, sorry guys, but it might be soon. I know i'm going to have a tenth, eleventh and a twelfth, but I don't know about a thirteenth. We'll see, eh?**

****REPOSTED** sort of, anyway. I changed the ending of this chapter because I'd forgotten I'd done it and I preferred how I did it in the other one. Sorry!**

**thanks guys!**

**beccasophX**


	10. Chapter 10

_I remember every look upon your face_

_The way you roll your eyes_

_The way you taste_

_You make it hard for breathing_

'_Cause when I close my eyes and drift away_

_I think of you and everything's okay_

_I'm finally now believing_

_**-Two is Better than One; Boys Like Girls ft. Taylor Swift**_

**CHAPTER 10**

**SCORPIUS MALFOY**

No one met me at King's Cross. For a moment I thought they'd forgotten, but I'd come back the same day every year for six years. That just couldn't escape your mind could it? I'd waited for ten minutes when I started to get annoyed. How could my parents just forget me? Bastards. But then something bigger hit me – how was I going to get home? I couldn't apparate yet, although Adrian and I had been secretly practicing. How was I supposed to get there? I pondered this for a few more minutes, noticing how my trunk was earning lots of stares, but I couldn't figure anything out. Then the answer popped into my head so suddenly it was as if someone had put it there: my house elf. I moved over to a quiet spot out of sight, and I summoned him. He appeared almost instantly.

"Master Scorpius! Is there something I can do for you, sir?" He wheezed. Havelock was my favourite house elf. He was warm-hearted and took care of my parents better than the other house elves. He knew he was my favourite too, and it delighted him.

"Yes, Havelock, there is. My darling parents have decided not to show up for my homecoming, and I have no other way of getting home. Could you please apparate me there?" I spoke more formally than I had done in weeks and it felt like I was speaking a different language. Havelock's face had lit up with a large smile, as though he would like nothing better to assist me, but he had flinched slightly when I'd spoken of my parents. His face was still smiling but when he spoke his voice was almost… sad.

"Indeed, Master Scorpius, you need to come home now." He'd said it in an almost insane rambling kind of way, almost like he'd forgotten I was there. He took hold of my arm, and I grabbed a tight hold on my luggage, and we disapparated.

I landed with a thud onto what felt like a path, a path that I knew well. Before I opened my eyes, I took in the scent of the air around me. I could smell that familiar scent of jasmine mixed with lilies and, I smiled, roses. I opened my eyes and I looked around. Nothing had changed; the plants were still green, the flowers still bloomed, the hedges surrounding me still gave the impression of a maze on either side of me. Then I looked up into the familiar sight of the Malfoy Manor. My grandfather had given it to my father after my grandmother had died; he didn't want to live in it anymore. I don't think it was because of memories of her that haunted him, but I think he gave it up because he wanted my father to think that. It may sound cynical, but I truly believed he didn't love my grandmother. I'd seen him shout at her, order her around, and even hit her. My father shouted at my mother sometimes, but very rarely and he _never _hit her. I think he just didn't want to be like his father. He'd told me once about the things he'd done for his father, the people who'd suffered because of it. He regretted it every day, I knew he did, and sometimes I wondered if he still saw those people's faces like he told me he used to. He'd sat me down before I started Hogwarts, explaining why some people might judge me or be afraid of me. He'd told me to ignore those people, because they weren't worth it. He'd told me I was going to be great, and not just because I was a Malfoy. I'd realised then that that was what I'd been waiting for the eleven years before that.

Havelock led me into the manor, taking my coat and disappearing with my luggage. I wandered around this house that I lived in, the house I hadn't been in for weeks, and I suddenly felt like I didn't belong there. I didn't belong in this dark, damp and – _dusty_ house? I noticed now that everything I'd passed was covered in dust and some things were adorned with a cobweb or two. Something wasn't right. I called for my mother. No answer. I called again, but still no answer. I walked carefully up the stairs, trying not to make too much noise. The manor was silent, my footsteps echoing off the walls. I moved down the hallway so slowly and so quietly you wouldn't know I was there. I turned into my parents' bedroom, and I saw my mother sitting there.

"Mother?" I asked, not entirely sure it was her. The woman I was used to had clean brown hair, and always wore a grey blazer and a matching pencil skirt. The woman sitting before me had hair that obviously hadn't been washed in days, and her pyjamas had been sloppily pulled on. I wondered absent-mindedly if she'd actually taken them off recently. She had no makeup on, and dark circles under her eyes.

I'm not sure whether she even heard me. She was sat up in bed, staring at nothing in particular, and I noticed the crumpled up tissues that were scattered around the bedroom floor.

"Mother?" I repeated, louder this time. Her head snapped up and she vaguely reminded me of a startled meerkat. I would've laughed if I hadn't been so worried. Something was definitely wrong.

"Draco?" She turned to me, her eyes wide. "Draco! I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Mother, it's me, Scorpius." She thought I was Father. I edged watchfully towards her, shifting my feet clumsily. There was screwed up wrappers on the floor, and I tried to dodge around them. She didn't notice.

"Draco, I'm so sorry we couldn't be there. Please forgive me. Draco, please." She whispered to me, burying her head in my shoulder. I kept silent, trying to figure out what to say. I felt her nails dig at my chest. "Draco! Please talk to me! I'm sorry!" She yelled at me, tears now streaming down her face. I patted her hair awkwardly. I had no idea how to talk to her at the moment; I didn't know what was going on.

"What's going on? Mother? Talk to me! It's Scorpius! It's me, mom!" I think me callling her 'mom' was what snapped her out of it the most. I'd never called her that before. My father had told me that my parents should be respected, and called 'Mother' and 'Father' at all times, so I complied. I did everything he told me to. I was never sure why.

"Scorpius?" She spoke as if she had just woken up, her eyes bulging. "Scorpius! Oh darling, I promised your father I wouldn't tell you! We'll have to wait until he gets home!" And then I heard the door slam shut. Father was home. Mother looked shocked, as if her words of him coming home had made it happen. If it was any other time, I might've laughed. Except now, I was worried. I was worried and I was anxious. I needed to know what was going on.

I ran downstairs so fast I almost fell down them. I ran straight past Father and I had to backtrack a bit. He was about to scold me for running when I interrupted him. My manners didn't matter to me right now. I think he sensed that.

"Father! Father, what is going on? Tell me!" I practically shouted at him. He looked like he was going to chastise me for my lack of manners, but thought better of it.

"Scorpius, your grandfather wasn't a good man. He was my father and I knew that. He worshipped the Dark Lord, as you know," He touched his left forearm, just like he always did when the Dark Lord was mentioned. It was a habit of his. "But that doesn't mean that I won't mourn him, and you shouldn't feel as though you can't grieve for him." He spoke gently, as if talking to a child. I always hated that tone.

"Father, what is going on? _What happened_?" I screamed. His expression wasn't angry. It wasn't upset. It was… sorry. He was sorry for having to say this to me.

"Your grandfather passed away recently." He said it bluntly, but I could see the emotion in his eyes. Draco Malfoy was never one to share his feelings, and I knew this wasn't going to change anything for him.

"_When_?" I yelled. He might be good at concealing his emotions, but I wasn't. I couldn't tell if I was upset or angry. I think it was a bit of both. Father flinched, and I saw the sorrow again.

"A week after you left for Hogwarts." He spoke briskly, and I could tell he didn't want to talk about this anymore. But I should've known about this; this happened a _week _after I went back to Hogwarts and nobody told me! No one even bothered to tell Scorpius that his grandfather fucking _died_?

"Why didn't you tell me?" I shouted, causing him to flinch again. I think he was on the verge of reprimanding me for shouting, but I think he understood why I was.

"I didn't want to tell you while you were still at school. And we had to sort out his will. The ministry wanted to keep it for longer, but they couldn't. There was nothing Dark on there. My father decided to lead a better life after the Dark Lord's death." He spoke this last sentence bitterly, and I knew he didn't believe that. He always thought his father was an evil man. Father reached in his pocket and pulled out something small and held it in his fist. "He left you this." I held out my hand and he dropped the object in it. It was a ring. It was small and silver – Lucius had always prided himself on his silver – with a green stone set into it. I noticed that they were Slytherin colours. Bloody typical. But even so, I felt some strange pull towards it. Like it was meant to be mine. "It's the Malfoy ring. It's been passed down through the generations. It is given to the true love of a Malfoy, and when either that person or the Malfoy member dies, it passes on to the next unwed blood Malfoy."

It sounded stupid to me, but I think that might've just been the tone in which my father said it. It sounded like he thought he'd been cheated out of the ring by the 'unwed' part. I didn't understand that, why would he want the ring so badly? It's just an heirloom. As if guessing my thoughts, he said, "It's charmed. You can't just give it to anyone you have a crush on. It will only fit the finger of your true love, or yourself. It will not fit another person. It has been used as an engagement ring, but more often it has just been given as a token of devotion. My father never gave it to anyone." I heard the bitterness in his voice. He knew his father didn't love his mother just as well as I did.

As I looked at it, and all its Malfoy glory, I couldn't help picture me sliding it on someone's hand. Pale and slightly freckled, with long slender fingers. Her nails painted black, with another ring on her other hand. I pictured her face as I gave it to her, full of love and happiness. I imagined her lips, sweet and soft that always tasted of cherries. I pictured her in a white dress.

I saw Rose.

That changed everything. I knew how stupid I was being now. Adrian was right; I was trying to be my father. I was trying to convince myself that I wasn't ready for a relationship, when really I just wanted to be like my father. I wanted to not have a steady girlfriend because I was trying to live up to my name. Now I realised what an ass I'd been. How I'd been to Rose. I didn't even think about her in all that. I loved her. Why should it matter if I was a Malfoy or that she was a Weasley? It didn't. I had been so incredibly stupid. And thinking about all that, did I really love her at all?

**XXXXX**

I couldn't stop thinking about Rose all night and the next day. It'd be two weeks until I saw her again. A whole two weeks. A whole two weeks where I was stuck in this depressing hellhole.

No one spoke to me here anymore. Father tried to talk to me at first but then he realised how weird it felt. I was stuck with no communication with anyone, with the exception of a "hello" said to me on the occasional morning. I was probably going to kill myself before the two weeks was even up.

"…Weasley…"

I snapped out of my thoughts. My head flew up so fast I got a crick in my neck. Mother and Father were talking quietly behind me. I hadn't been paying much attention as I was trying to have a nap on the sofa – lazy? Yes. Unnecessary? No. – but my eyes had flew open at the mention of Rose's surname.

"What about a Weasley?" I said, interrupting my Father. Since I'd been back he hadn't corrected me on any of my manners. I found this quite amusing.

"Nothing about the Weasleys." He lied. His lip curled slightly as he said 'Weasley'. "Everyone would be better off staying away from them, son. Blood traitors. Whores. They've got the lot." It almost made me laugh because I knew I would've said 'gingers'. He would've if he'd been trying to be funny, but he wasn't. And suddenly I felt angry. He judged the whole Weasley family on his view of Ron.

"You don't know them." I said quietly. His eyes narrowed.

"What was that?"

"I said you don't know them." I spoke more defiantly, and I could tell from his expression he hadn't expected me to say it. Then he let out a harsh laugh.

"I don't know them? _I _don't know them? I know them better than you do. Are you forgetting who went to school with Potter, Weasley, _and _Granger?" For a moment I wondered who Granger was, but then I guessed that was Hermione Weasley's maiden name.

"You judge them all by how you view one of them. How he treated you. They're not all like that." I was trying very hard to keep my voice steady, and I could feel my temper rising with every sneer he let out at the Weasley name.

"Really?" He said, his voice dangerously quiet. "And how would you know? You're not _friends _with any of them." I smirked at this.

"No, you're right. I'm not friends with them." He looked smug. "But I am in love with Rose Weasley." The self-righteous smile he'd worn only seconds before was wiped off his face in an instant, and I could see his mind trying to process what I'd said. I walked out of the room and headed upstairs with a satisfied feeling, knowing that I'd now proven to myself that I loved Rose. I felt almost… happy. And that was a big thing in a hellhole like this.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**Hey guys! Sorry I didn't update sooner, I had massive writers block-.- **

**I hope you liked this chapter, I've actually been planning this one for a while. I needed Scorpius to wake up and realise that he does love Rose, and it's her that he wants to be with. But I also needed him to prove it to himself, which is exactly what he did at the end. If there's any confusion about how that proved it to himself, it was because he knew before that he was only trying to be his father by not wanting Rose as a steady girlfriend, and after realising that he wondered if he actually loved Rose anyway. Then he told his father that he was in love with her, and that proved that he did love her because if he hadn't, he wouldn't have bothered telling his father and he wouldn't have got so angry about Draco bad-mouthing the Weasleys. Do you get it? Or am I being one of those writers who never makes sense to anyone:S?**

**I do have to thank #Amberlil for helping me with this one. She's new to this but when she starts writing you should really check it out, although it will be some Twilight stuff; I haven't converted her to a potterhead yet:(**

**Please review!**

**thanks guys**

**beccasophX**


	11. Chapter 11

_Strike up the band, let's start a fire_

_Put up your hands, show your desire_

_If you want this, don't hold back_

_Asked you to stand, like one of the choir_

_Lift up your voice, build it up higher_

_In this moment, don't look back_

_**-Anywhere Else; Olly Murs**  
><em>

**CHAPTER 11**

**ROSE WEASLEY**

Dominique ignoring me was a lot more bearable with Albus speaking to me. We spoke so easily around each other it was almost like the last few months hadn't happened. He didn't even badmouth Scorpius around me. At least, not in a _really _bad way. He did it in a joke way, but I think he was really starting to see that Scorpius wasn't really a bad guy like he'd thought.

"You really like him don't you?" He said after a short period of silence. I could tell he'd been thinking about this for a while. I pictured Scorpius in my mind – his beautiful grey eyes that I got lost in so easily, his soft blonde hair that he always ruffled, his strong arms that held me tight, and his warm lips that brushed mine. It was then that I realised how much I loved him.

"Yes." I said, studying his face carefully. I'd missed talking to Albus, and I didn't want to do anything that would upset him again, but he wanted me to be honest with him. So I was.

"Okay." He said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Er, what?"

"Okay. I'll try to get along with him, then."

"Wh–? Really?" I felt my jaw drop and my eyes had widened.

"Yeah. If he means that much to you – and I know you mean a lot to him – then I'll try and get along with him." He said it simply, as if announcing something small. But this was big. I couldn't actually believe my ears. Albus had hated Scorpius since the train journey on the first day of Hogwarts.

_Albus and I laughed as we made our way down the corridor of the train, trying to find an empty compartment. We were talking about the castle, and how our parents had been telling us about it for as long as we could remember. James had told us about it too, but Albus thought that was mostly lies; James liked to wind him up. One thing our parents had told us about in great detail was the Headmaster when they were at school. Albus was named after him and he couldn't wait to finally go to the place where his namesake had made such an impression on his father. There was also another Headmaster, who Albus was also named after, that Uncle Harry talked about lots when he spoke about Hogwarts. He got a bit teary-eyed sometimes as well. He always said that Severus Snape was the bravest man he ever knew, even if hardly anyone saw it. He sometimes went off on tales about how he, Mom, and Dad used to think that Snape was plotting to kill Uncle Harry. It almost made him laugh._

_Then suddenly Albus stopped, his smile fading into a tight-lipped scowl. Standing in front of him was the tall, white blonde boy that my dad had pointed out to us. He also had a stony look on his face. _

"_Potter."_

"_Malfoy."_

_They snarled at each other in unison. I was never sure why – it just seemed to be hatred at first sight instead of 'love'._

"_You want to watch who you hang around with, Potter. I don't know who would want to be with a _Weasley_." Scorpius said, his lip curling when he spoke my name._

"_I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks." Albus said coolly. When we recounted the story to Uncle Harry, he and dad had both exchanged grins and they were both in really good moods all day after that. Weird._

"_You sure about that one?" _ _He threw a pointed look at me and then turned away, into the compartment we were just about to go into. Albus was scowling for the rest of the journey._

"Er, okay then… thanks?" I phrased it almost as a question; I wasn't really sure where this had come from.

"_I know you mean a lot to him"_

As I thought about it, the pieces started to fit together. I knew Scorpius had spoken to Albus about me, but maybe it wasn't just Albus not speaking to me that they talked about. I mean a lot to him. What did that mean? That he loved me? That he liked me? Or just that he cared about me? It meant something, I just wasn't sure what.

But if he loved me, then why had he not asked me to be his girlfriend. He kissed me like I was, he held me like I was, he looked at me like I was, but I wasn't. I didn't even know if I wanted to be. I still didn't trust him completely. I wanted to, but I just couldn't. I don't know why. He'd proved himself to me utterly and completely; I knew he cared about me and I knew he liked me, and he stopped me when I was willing to take it further because he didn't want to pressure me. Or did he just not want to be with me? Did he just not want to do that with me?

"Hey guys." James sat down next to me and Albus, snapping me out of my thoughts. Fred sat down afterwards, following suit. Fred and I looked a lot like each other, with our red hair and freckles. Standard Weasley look. Except Dominique; she and Victoire were spitting images of Aunt Fleur. Dominique was a bit more of a slut than her sister, but the looks were still there.

"Is it true you and Scorpius Malfoy are eloping?" Fred blurted out before he could stop himself. Albus burst out laughing and James shook his head.

"Er, no? Who told you that?" I laughed uncertainly, positive I knew the answer.

"Dominique." He proved me right. Fred said her name like it was sacred; he'd always looked up to Dominique. His expression changed when he saw all of our faces. Albus was looking at me apologetically, James frowned but didn't look shocked, and I was… laughing. Laughing? Why was I laughing? Then I realised something; I didn't care anymore. She'd punched me, whispered about me, apparently spread things about me, completely ignored me, and I was done. She could do anything to me now and I wouldn't care. I was done with trying to please her. I loved Scorpius, and if Albus – _Albus – _could accept that, then she could. But she hadn't, so that just proved how pathetic _she _was. Not me. So I laughed. I laughed until I couldn't breathe. It felt like I was letting go of everything that had happened between us over the past few months, and it felt good. Albus and James started to laugh with me after a few minutes, although I think they were laughing _at _me instead. I didn't care about that either. I was able to have a laugh with my family and my friends, and I didn't need her. Not anymore.

**XXXXX**

"So come on, James, how's the Quidditch going?" Uncle Harry spoke to his son across the dinner table. Everyone tuned in to listen. James had started playing for Puddlemere United as Seeker. Uncle Harry had apparently called in a favour with the captain, Oliver Wood, to get him on the team. According to Harry, he'd said, "Of course, who wouldn't want James Potter, he's the best Seeker since you!" which had made Harry really happy. Everyone knew how much he loved Quidditch and how good a Seeker he was, and sometimes I wondered why he'd never wanted to be in the Quidditch career.

"It's really good! Oliver's got us practising like crazy though, and I've got blisters!" He added, showing his sore hands.

"That sounds like Oliver," Uncle Harry laughed, Dad joining in. "But at least you'll be good for the first match."

James nodded and then Harry, Dad, James, Fred, Albus and I started speaking about Quidditch and the rest of us lost interest. Albus and I were both Chasers for Gryffindor, and James had been on the team with us until recently. According to McGonagall, the only person who'd ever beat James in catching the snitch was Harry himself.

I saw Dominique glaring at me out of the corner of my eye and I couldn't stop myself letting out a giggle. I saw her turn away and cross her arms, her face forced into a fierce scowl. Or at least, she _thought _it was a fierce scowl. It actually made me want to laugh more, but she didn't need to know that.

After dinner I went up to the room I was sharing with Albus. We always shared when we were at the Burrow, which was pretty much every Christmas. It was usually us and Dominique would come in here because although she was meant to sleep in the same room as Victoire, Victoire was a really light sleeper and always woke up when Dominique, er, breathed. So she usually came in with us, which worked because there was enough room for all three of us. But she didn't come in this holiday.

I flopped down on the bed, my head sinking into the pillow so comfortably that I was tempted just to go to sleep. Then a hoot beside my ear made me jump out of the bed.

"_What the f–!" _I screamed. Perching on my bedside table was an elegant tawny owl, a small note attached to its leg. When it sensed I'd calmed down, it stuck out its foot for me. I untied the note and read it, feeling myself smile as I recognised the handwriting.

_My Beautiful Red Rose_

_Every day here is agony, but it's worth it because every day I'm here brings me a day closer to seeing you again._

_Ooh, don't I sound sappy?_

_Haha, I might write you an impromptu poem:_

Roses are red

Violets are blue

Violets suck

It's all about you

_Hmmm, I'll work on it…_

_Anyway, I thought I'd write to you because I'm so bored stuck in this shitty place, and I missed your charming smile._

_I've got a present for you for when we get back, just so you know. And it's definitely for you._

_-Scorpius_

I laughed as I read through it, noting his poetry… skills. I scribbled a note back to him, a silly grin spreading across my face as I thought of him. When I'd finished, I tied the note to the owl's leg and it flew through the skies gracefully, leaving me with thoughts of the Slytherin.

Albus walked in shortly afterwards, snapping me out of my Scorpius induced daze.

"You know what?" He said, flopping down on his own bed, completely unaware that he'd interrupted my daydream. "I'm really surprised the Olds haven't realised that Dominique isn't speaking to you." 'The Olds' was what we called our parents.

"Actually, I've noticed that too. I feel ignored." I joked, making Albus laugh.

"She was making all this crap up about you when I was with her too." He spoke about him being with her casually, but I could see the awkwardness in his eyes that he tried to hide. "She drives me fucking crazy, you know. She actually is crazy, I swear!"

"Hmpft." A voice sounded from the doorway, but when Albus and I swung our heads around to face the door, the owner of the voice was gone. A flash of blonde was all we saw.

"Fuck." Albus and I said in unison, our eyes for meeting for a moment. Then we burst out laughing. And once we started laughing… well it was difficult to stop. It wasn't even that funny, but we laughed for what seemed like hours but must have only been minutes.

"Well, at least we don't have to break the news to her." Albus smirked after we'd stopped sniggering.

"It's good that she knows." I nodded in agreement, not being able to hide the grin that was creeping upon my face. We sat laughing for a while, then decided it was time to go to bed. Well, I decided. But Albus' frequent yawns had told me he agreed.

**XXXXX**

"ROSE WEASLEY!" I woke to the sound of my father's voice shouting, his footsteps thundering on the stairs. I got up out of my bed, not sure whether to be frightened or confused. Dad burst into my room, his face purple. Mom was behind him, pleading for him to calm down. "ROSE!" He still shouted, even though I was about 3 feet away from him. Albus stirred, but didn't wake. That boy could sleep through anything.

"Er, y-yes?" I stammered, my head finally choosing fear as my predominant emotion over confusion.

"You know what!" He screamed, spraying spit around him. "Is it true?"

"I–What? What do you mean?" I said, as I racked my thoughts trying to figure out if I'd done anything wrong. Unless it was… oh shit. He noticed the look of dawning comprehension on my face.

"Rose, I've told you not to get involved with that boy!" He roared, my mother still begging him to compose himself.

"Ron, shut the hell up you're waking the whole bloody house!" I was spared the answer by Uncle Harry walking into the room, bleary eyed. His eyes clocked me cowering under the gaze of my father and Dad's face purple with rage. "You need to calm down, mate. I don't know what happened but you shouldn't be this angry." His voice was soothing, but I heard him mumble "not at this time anyway" and I resisted the urge to smile. I realised how early it must be, and I noticed that mother was wearing her nightgown instead of her usual clothes.

"Harry, don't tell me what to do, you don't even know what _she's _done!" Dad said, not taking his eyes off me and sneering when he referenced me. Uncle Harry looked to Mom pleadingly, and she leaned closer to tell him 'what I'd done'. I could've sworn I saw her roll her eyes.

"That's it?" Harry said blinkingly. Dad swivelled his head round and stared at his best friend in disbelief.

"_That's it_? What do you mean _that's it_?"

"I hate to tell you mate, but we did a lot worse than that when we were in school. I seem to recall a dragon, a three-headed dog, a forbidden trap door that we went down anyway, and a giant game of wizards' chess in which you got knocked unconscious, and that was just in our first year." Harry smirked in reminiscence, smiling at Mom who was also holding back a laugh.

"That was different!"

"Yeah I know; ours was worse. That was kind of my point."

"It's not the same situation, Harry! She's… She's… She's with a Malfoy! _My _daughter with _Malfoy's _son!"

"It's not that big of a deal. Scorpius is probably better than Draco was when he was in school." Uncle Harry spoke reasonably, but Dad still sneered when the Malfoys' forenames were mentioned. "In any case, you need to stop shouting. It's…" He checked his battered watch, and his eyes popped slightly. "Seven thirty. In the _morning_. I bet even _Luna _isn't up yet." I smiled as he referenced one of his close friends. I liked her too, but unfortunately she'd stopped liking me as much when I'd broken up with her son…

"Fine." Dad said after a long period of silence. "But we'll continue this later." He added to me, throwing a disgusted look my way. He stamped out of the room, Mom close behind him. Uncle Harry gave a lingering look at his son, snoring like there was no tomorrow, shook his head and followed his best friends out of the room.

I stood still for a moment, paralysed with shock. My father had just yelled at me about Scorpius, that I could understand, but I didn't get how he knew. As soon as I asked myself the question the answer clicked in my mind; Dominique. I could imagine her sleeping with a smug look on her face. Bitch. I don't know what that did for her, because it's not like Dad can stop me being with Scorpius. He can try, but he can't make me.

I shook my head and climbed back into my bed, snuggling down under the covers, hoping for at least another four hours sleep.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while, I've been trying to finish this chapter! Well, I have been since the 18th January, I'd been revising up until then. Chemistry, yay-.- It's all good though, I think I did okay and now I get to restart my fanfiction!**

**I know this chapter's a bit of a filler (which is why it took me so long), but I think it sort of needed to be in there because Ron has finally found out about Rose and Scorpius, and they're not even going out yet. **

**Three guesses what Scorpius' present to Rose is? I wasn't too subtle at that part, but Rose wouldn't know so I didn't think I needed to be. Just to clear some things up, this drama with them is _meant _to be immature, because it's Dominique who's causing it. I'm not just being all sucky... hopefully anyway:) but Dominique is meant to be childish and her way of bringing them drama does work, but it's still stupid. That's the point. Just so you know and you don't think that's what I think is like, _real _drama.**

**Anyway, so I hope you like this one, because I've been writing it for a while now...**

**thanks guys!**

**beccasophX**


	12. Chapter 12

_Breathe in for luck, breathe in so deep_

_This air is blessed, you share with me_

_This night is wild, so calm and dull_

_These hearts they race from self-control_

_Your legs are smooth as they graze mine_

_We're doing fine, we're doing nothing at all_

_**-Hands Down; Dashboard Confessional**  
><em>

**CHAPTER 12**

**DRACO MALFOY**

My son. My son in love with a Weasley. It should not have been possible. It _wasn't_ possible. I refused to believe it. As long as I didn't speak about it, it wasn't true. But as soon as I looked at my son all I could think of was his infatuation with the Weasley girl. So I ended up not speaking to him at all. It started as avoiding him, and then it just went into ignoring his presence completely. He didn't seem to mind too much actually. He seemed to find it rather amusing. I made a mental note to myself to wipe the smirk off the face that resembled mine so. Astoria was trying to make me speak to Scorpius, but she didn't seem to grasp how I felt about the situation. I loathed the Weasleys, and I had for years. For my son to be in love with them, it was like he was betraying me and everything I'd taught him about them. I knew the Weasley girl was pretty, but it angered me that my son would think he was in love with a girl based on her looks alone. And I knew he had because she was a Weasley; she had no personality. They never did.

"Draco. You have to talk to him. He's your _son_, Draco."

"I'm perfectly aware of who he is, Astoria." My words were harsh as they left my mouth. I felt guilty as I heard my tone, but the feeling quickly vanished.

"Then prove it." She sounded so much like Severus I almost expected to look up to see the cold black eyes I used to come to at Hogwarts. But Astoria didn't understand. How could she? She didn't know the Weasleys like I did. The Weasleys were sad, pathetic and a disgrace to the wizarding name. Ronald Weasley was no exception. In fact he proved it. He thought that just because his best friend defeated the Dark Lord that made _him _special too. It didn't. As far as I was concerned, Ronald Weasley was still the arrogant pig I'd known him to be for years. Potter, at least, had decency. Potter did not go out drinking and then wear dark glasses outside the next morning to hide the dark circles under his eyes. Potter did not cover up the bruises on his wife's perfect cheeks to make out that he was a decent human being. No one else might've noticed the redness Hermione Weasley often wore around her eyes that obviously meant she'd been crying, but I had. I noticed the way her voice was sometimes croaky after what was evidently nights of shouting. I noticed the way her lips sometimes curled slightly when someone addressed her as "Ms. Weasley". I noticed the way the sparkle in her eyes dimmed when she was with her husband. No one noticed it. No one but me.

Not that she knew I noticed this. For all intents and purposes she'd forgotten I existed. Which I was fine with. But I couldn't help but wonder what she saw in Weasley. He had the mental capacity of a twelve year old boy. His emotional maturity hadn't grown since he was eight. Yet still she married him. She married the man who stopped talking to her because of a rat. She married the man who walked out on her and Potter when they were hunting to destroy the Dark Lord. She married the man who stopped speaking to Potter because he was thrown into the Triwizard Tournament. He abandons his best friends in their times of need, and she married him. She took his last name and made it her own. She wore his ring around her finger. She loved him. And for what? For him to destroy her.

**XXXXX**

**RON WEASLEY**

My daughter dating a Malfoy. It sickened me. If she thought she was off the hook with this she was dead wrong. No child of mine would ever be associated with a Malfoy. They were disgusting, slimy creatures not worth any part of anything. Harry was trying to reason with me as we sat at the table.

"Ron, mate, you're blowing this way out of proportion." He said, shaking his head. Hermione was silent.

"No I'm not, Harry! She's practically going out with… _him_!" I snarled. Harry smacked his hand to his forehead.

"How many times have I got to tell you? _Draco isn't like that anymore_! He's shaken off all his Death Eater ways and he's built a good life around that. He's probably raised Scorpius against Lucius. And you know how it came out about them! It wasn't Draco's choice the entire time."

"I still don't believe that bullshit."

"Ron, they used Veritaserum."

"He probably found a way to slip past the effects… slimy git." I grumbled, making Harry bury his face in his hands.

"Ron. Let me ask you one thing. Even if you did try and force Rose to stop seeing Scorpius–"

"Which she will." I interrupted.

"How the hell are you going to stop them?" Harry continued as if I hadn't spoken.

"Rose wouldn't disobey me."

"Hate to burst your bubble, mate, but in case you haven't noticed, Rose is sixteen years old. You remember our sixth year?" Hermione let out a snort of disgust as she thought of our sixth year at Hogwarts, and I could tell she was thinking about Lavender Brown.

"What's your point?"

"My point is: we did anything we wanted when we were sixteen. In fact, we did anything we wanted when we were eleven. Do you remember in fifth year when your mum didn't want us creating 'Dumbledore's Army'? Do you remember in second year when we flew your dad's car to Hogwarts? Do you remember in third year when we went back in time? First year: We went to find the philosopher's stone. Second year: we went into the chamber of secrets. Third year: we rescued Sirius from a tower on a _hippogriff_. Fourth year: Triwizard Tournament. Fifth year: Umbridge. Sixth year: the book. Seventh year: _we didn't go_. We have always done what we wanted, or what we felt we needed to, regardless of what rules we were breaking. Rose isn't going to be different."

What he said made sense. I know it did. But that didn't mean I was going to listen to him. Rose was my daughter, and she would do what I told her to. Just because Harry was married to my sister didn't mean he had input over his niece's upbringing.

"Dad?" I looked up and expected to see Rose. Instead I saw Lily, and I fully took in how much she'd grown in the past few months, and not just in height. She looked mentally stronger, and her face glowed. Her hair had grown longer over the months, and now it cascaded down her back in waves of the same jet black that her father had. Something had changed in her, and something told me she was just about to tell us what had happened.

"Lily!" Harry smiled at his daughter, his eyes gleaming at the girl who looked like a perfect cross between him and Ginny. "Do you need something, sweetheart?"

"Dad, I'm not a kid anymore…" She grumbled at her childhood nickname, but her eyes told us that she really loved being her father's little girl. "But yeah. I do. Sort of."

"What is it?"

"Okay, so you know how Rose is with Scorpius? Well, sort of with him. They're not actually together but whatever…" She rambled on about Rose and the Malfoy boy for another minute or two, while I tried to tune out anything that mentioned the boy who'd violated my daughter by even being in the same room as her. "Anyway, I'm dating Adrian Zabini. Bye!" And she ran out the room.

Hermione, Harry, and I sat dumbfounded for a moment, and then Harry started to laugh. He laughed and laughed and Hermione and I got more freaked out by the second. But Harry wouldn't stop laughing.

"You know, it's funny," He said between chuckles, "that I'm laughing, because I don't find this remotely funny." He wiped tears from his eyes and continued to snigger, causing Hermione to lean away from him slightly.

"Harry…" She asked gently, "Are you okay?" His laughter died down and he was able to answer.

"You know what? I actually am. I met with Blaise the other week and he seemed like he'd truly reformed. I'm sure Adrian is a nice boy."

"Harry, you know he's a sixth year?" I asked.

"Yes, of course, I'm not retarded."

"And Lily is a fourth year?"

"Yes, Ron. I know how old my daughter is." That was when I lost it.

"How are you okay with this? Malfoy and Zabini were– _are _bullying bastards! Not to mention this Adrian boy is two years older than Lily! How does this not bother you?"

"Because, Ron, I will not forbid my children to love."

"It isn't love it's… a crush. It's infatuation. It's fascination. It is not _love_!"

"Ron, you have to understand this. To me, it doesn't matter who my children date. As long as they are cared for. You forget that sometimes people fall in love with someone they shouldn't. I don't want my children growing up thinking I won't approve of their life decisions. I am here to advise them. To guide them. I am not here to set out a path for them that they have to follow."

"That's a load of bullshit, Harry. You can't possibly think that."

"Snape loved my mother. He wasn't supposed to. But he did."

"And he was a greasy-haired slug who hated you!"

"He died to save me. He spent his life protecting me."

"Oh save me the theatrics."

"Fine, Ron. Believe what you want. But Rose is going to date Scorpius no matter what you say." Harry stood up and walked out of the room, and I knew his thoughts were not of me, not of his daughter, but of his mother. Hermione left shortly after, leaving me with my thoughts. I thought of my childhood. I thought of all three of us doing whatever the hell we wanted while we were at school. I thought of George and – with a pang – Fred, creating mischief and doing what they loved regardless of who told them not to. The more I thought about it, the more I realised I didn't want my children missing out on their life by sticking to a plan someone else had set out for them. I wanted them to live. I wanted them to love. I wanted them to enjoy themselves.

As for Rose and Scorpius, I was not over it. But I was okay with it. For now.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**well i had to have the parents' POV at some point, didn't i?**

**I know most of you won't like that I made out that Ron was an abusive husband (unless you ship Dramione, in which case you'll probably love it). I will remind you that that is just Draco's perception. It might turn out differently.**

**Anyway, sorry I haven't updated for ages, I've had the biggest writer's block ever-.- But I wanted to do this chapter. So here you go: the chapter.**

**and yea, i know lily is meant to have red hair but i didn't want it the same as Rose's so i made it black like harry's, sorry;)**

** but yea, i hope you like the chapter:)**

**thanks guys!**

**beccasophX**


	13. Chapter 13

_Caught you having a laugh_

_Did you catch me have the last?_

_I've been smiling like this for days_

_Just to make up for my mistakes_

_In the dark, I watch everyone disappear_

_I'm beginning to let myself down_

_I'm pushing everyone that was in, out_

_**-Safer To Hate Her; You Me At Six**  
><em>

**CHAPTER 13**

**SCORPIUS MALFOY**

I was going crazy without her.

I longed to feel the curves of her waist.

I wished to smell the scent of her hair that she twirled in her fingers.

I craved the taste of her lips on mine.

I yearned to see the sparkle in her eyes.

My beautiful red Rose. I wouldn't see her for another three days. I didn't know if I could handle even that.

_You whiny little bitch._

I mentally kicked myself for being so psychopathic, but I grinned all the same. Because honestly? I couldn't wait to see her. I twirled my grandfather's ring in my fingers, thinking about how right it would look on Rose's delicate ones. I grinned to myself again, making a mental note not to smile this stupid smile at school; they'd think I'd gone insane. That's how I looked, in all fairness. My almost-white hair was sticking up everywhere, and not intentionally. I was paler. I knew I was. Mother hadn't noticed. Father was refusing to talk to me, so if he'd noticed he didn't let on. The truth was I hadn't been eating as much. I wasn't particularly sure why.

But I had noticed something while I'd been back here. Something seemed wrong between my parents. They were… different around each other. I forced myself to believe that it was just my father's way of coping with _his _father's death. Pushing people away wasn't at all unlike him, anyway. Draco Malfoy was never one for large groups of people. Not like the Potters, I'd noticed. My father seemed determined to be the complete opposite of the Potter-Weasley clan. Although, he couldn't do much about the houses. Or mansions, I should say. Everyone had seen the Potter Mansion, and everyone knew about Malfoy Manor. Malfoy Manor was legendary, not just because it had been there since practically forever, but also for negative reasons. Lord Voldemort had been housed here. My grandfather, my grandmother and my great aunt Bellatrix had let him use the Manor as headquarters. It was strange to me, that the house I grew up in – the house I loved, despite its harshness – was once walked through by the darkest wizard of all time. He had walked the halls, he had touched the banisters, and he had sat in chairs that once stood in the dining room. My father had thrown out those chairs as soon as he'd moved our family into the Manor. He removed every trace of Dark wizards from the house, even going so far as burning a portrait of my great aunt – which almost killed my grandmother. I knew how much she'd loved her sister.

Apart from the manors, Father had tried to make us as different from the Potter-Weasley clan as possible. I'd never met my cousin, Teddy Lupin. Father had never forbade me, but I felt as though I'd be betraying him if I was civil to the boy. I realised that if I started dating Rose, I probably would meet him. And I would probably like him. All of the Potter-Weasley-Lupin clan was _nice_, I guess.

_Damned family._

It dawned on me that I'd just called Albus Fucking Potter '_nice_'. I felt my whole world collapse when I realised that I actually thought he was. Not necessarily to me, but he wasn't an asshole to the people he loved and cared about. If he wasn't such a pretentious douchebag – or if I wasn't – we probably would've been friends. I shook the thought from my mind, trying not to think about me and Albus Fucking Potter out drinking Firewhiskies together.

I cast about my mind for a different thought and it landed, as it always did, on Rose. Why was I such a girl? I had to think of her _all the goddamn time_. It was infuriating. But the most annoying part was that it wasn't. I loved thinking about her. I was such a sappy git.

True to form, I pulled out the letter she'd sent me in reply to mine. I'd read the thing about five million times, and I found myself reading it for the five millionth and first.

_Scorpius,_

_You are sappy; you just don't want to admit it, haha. And yes, maybe you should work on that poem. Hmmm, cryptic. Do I not get any clues as to what this mystery present is? If not that's really annoying, you can't just tell me you've got me a present and then not tell me what it is. That's so Scorpius of you. Which I guess would make sense seeing as you are Scorpius but you know. Oh dear God I'm rambling on a piece of parchment – quick, someone check me into a mental institute._

_I hope everything is okay at your house. It's actually been okay here; with Albus talking to me Dominique is becoming more and more bearable. It's sort of funny actually. You'd be in hysterics if you saw her trying to make out that she's angry. She crosses her arms and goes "Hmpft!" and sticks her chin out into the opposite direction. It's fucking hilarious._

_Is it really pathetic for me to admit that I miss you? I know it is, but I'm going to put it anyway. Because I do. Sort of. It's not really as fun. I mean, it is, because I've got Albus, but it'd be better if I had both of you. Oh god look at me, I'm rambling again._

_You know, you and Albus are so much alike. It's kinda creepy actually._

_-Rose._

I smiled each time I read it. Why did she have to be so cute? I loved it when she rambled, and it made me laugh that she even did it in a letter. I'd written a reply, something about how no she didn't get any clues, it was supposed to be a surprise, and how yes everything was okay here (I decided not to tell her about the whole "I'm in love with Rose Weasley" thing…), how I know Dominique does that, because she used to do it all the time to me. Oh, and how I missed her too. Because I was a sappy douchebag. I didn't reply anything to the bit about Albus. I didn't want to admit that I knew exactly how much we were alike.

I lay down with my eyes closed, almost dreaming, when an owl flew in the window, onto the table and hooted happily in my ear.

It scared me fucking shitless.

I glowered at the owl before realising it wasn't one I recognised, and the letter tied to its leg was addressed to me. I unwound the binding and opened the note:

_Malfoy._

_I suppose we should get some things straight. You are in love with my cousin. Don't even try to deny it because I'm not retarded. And don't put a snide comment to that either because that's just way too easy. In fact you probably didn't think of it before I mentioned it because it was that easy but… moving on. You are in love with my cousin. My cousin is in love with you. She hasn't admitted it yet but it's obvious. This does not mean we are friends, or even close to it. But I will act civil to you on the condition that you do the same. For Rose's sake. I wouldn't want her having to choose between us, because then she'd choose me and that'd leave little old you all heartbroken, wouldn't it, lickle Malfoy? Does seem appealing actually… but you understand my point. I expect a reply, and I have instructed the owl to bite you – hard – if you do not start working on the reply as soon as you have read the letter. We may have a truce, Malfoy, but I still need my sources of amusement, and seeing you come to school in a few days with a chunk taken out of your skin would definitely amuse me._

_I think it is unnecessary to say this but I will: I do not think it is required of us to tell Rose about this agreement. I know you probably wouldn't have anyway, but you are a pompous ass, so you never know._

_-Albus_

_P.S. yes, the bird will bite._

I reread the letter a few times. I was stunned. Albus Potter – Albus Fucking Potter – offering a truce on our six-year feud? I was thinking hard when the owl bit me. And fuck, did it hurt.

"Fuck!" I exclaimed, examining the cut on my forefinger. I glared at the owl. "Stupid fucking bird." The owl hooted smugly, and bent its head towards a bit of parchment that was on the table in front of me. I picked up a quill and dipped it in the half-empty bottle of ink that was resting on the table also, and I began to write.

_Potter,_

_You were right; the thought hadn't even crossed my mind until you mentioned it. Way too easy. See, I'm already getting started with this truce crap; I just said you were right, agreed with you, and I haven't called you retarded._

_But I do agree – once again. We'll call truce, for Rose. But should she and I break it off, we will go back to before. Like nothing changed. Agreed?_

_-Scorpius._

_P.S. Fuck you._

I added the last part purely because I wouldn't get to for a long time, if we were calling a truce. I sent the bird away with a glare, folding up Albus' letter and putting it in the pocket of my dark blue jeans.

A letter came a few days later,

_Agreed_

_-A_

**XXXXX**

I repacked my trunk with more anticipation than I ever had before. I felt like such a girl. I was hurrying to get back to _school_. Sweet Merlin, I was such a loser. I had just finished throwing my books into my trunk when I heard a knock at my wide open door. I didn't have to turn around to know who it was. My mother never knocked. It was my father, probably come to tell me that I was a disappointment or something.

"Hello, Father." I said, without turning around. Footsteps told me he took this as an invitation to come in.

"Good evening, son." I flinched at the word but I didn't let him see.

"Was there something you needed, sir?" _Sir_. I had always called him 'sir'. He had taught me too. Looking back on it I had no idea why. I felt like I was already back at school.

"Is a father not allowed to talk to his own son?" He said it jokingly, but I knew he meant it as a proper question. It was his way of asking if he could talk to me. I was very tempted to say no.

"I suppose, sir." I said stiffly, swallowing every urge I had to start kicking him.

"Scorpius, you must know that I care about you very much. And anything I say, or don't say, out of anger does not mean my opinion of you has changed."

"And what is your opinion of me, Father?" I said quietly, an almost indignant air to the question. "Don't tell me I am not the disappointment you always made me out to be? Am I not a disgrace to the Malfoy name as you so often imply? I've done everything you've ever asked me to do, and I've done it well. I couldn't fail enough for you. So you beat me and beat me with your words as if that one day one of them will make something inside me snap, and you'll finally be able to be rid of me! Don't act like it's not true, Father. I know you well. I know you perhaps better than anyone else, including Mother, but you don't know me at all. I'm surprised you even remember my birthday! I'm sure you wouldn't if I didn't remind you a week in advance each year. Well Father, I guess you've got your wish. I've finally done something for you to be ashamed of. I am in love with a Weasley and I am not ashamed of it! So go ahead, do your worst! Beat me up. Kick me out and make sure I never come back! Anything you do to me is not going to be worse than what you've already done." My voice had started out as an only slightly audible whisper, building up until I was shouting. Father made no attempt to contradict anything I said. I'm glad he didn't. He'd just be lying to himself.

My whole life. My whole life I'd been respectful to my father. Letting the minor slip-ups slide, one by one. I'd never thought about it until recently. All my father ever did was talk down to me. He would trash-talk me and basically be a fucking asshole, but I always let it slide. It was for our own good. All he was ever concerned with was our reputation. He was determined to make sure the Malfoy name still held respect. He thought I threatened that.

"Eat something, Scorpius. You're looking pale." He said finally. I stared at him in disbelief. That was what he had to say to me? _That_? He turned and walked out of the room, with me still gaping at his disappearing figure. I grabbed my Quidditch Captain badge and aimed it at his head. I threw it, and it hit exactly where I wanted it to. He studied the badge and looked up to see me in my doorway.

"I got Quidditch Captain." I said, because I knew he didn't know. And then I slammed the door. But not before I heard him let out the smallest of sighs.

"Someday you'll understand." He'd whispered.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**yeah, daddy issues is playing a big theme here...**

**ha, i figured i owed you guys another chapter considering how absent i've been. i've just been so caught up with random crap, sorry:S**

**This has taken me since about 10 to write. It's 3 now. 3am. thank god it's half term...**

**I actually liked this chapter, so hopefully you will too.**

_**please review!**_

**thanks guys!**

**beccasophX**


	14. Chapter 14

_She, she is the words that I can't find_

_How can the only thing that's killing me make me feel so alive?_

_And I couldn't speak_

_I couldn't breathe to save my life_

_All of my chances swim like sinking ships_

_This time it's it_

_I'll drown or make her mine_

**_-She (for Liz); Parachute_**

**CHAPTER 14**

**ROSE WEASLEY**

I'd been back at Hogwarts for a week before Dominique started up again. Her and Fate Brown had banded together to hate me. I was surprised they didn't already have "I hate Rose" badges and or started an "I hate Rose" club. James and Fred began to notice that Dominique and I were becoming enemies. They obviously knew before that we weren't getting along, but I think they just thought we'd get over it in a few days. So what did they do? They called fucking Teddy.

Don't get me wrong, I loved Teddy Lupin. He was not only one of my favourite cousins but he was also both a kid like us and an adult like the parents, so he got listened to when he bailed us out of trouble. Teddy had become the sort of peacemaker in the family. Whenever we had a fight between us – usually Albus and Dominique or Albus and Lily – Teddy would be able to sort it out. But I realised just how annoying that is when it happened to me.

_Rose,_

_James and Fred wrote me, saying that you and Dominique were in a fight. I know it's hardly my place to try and sort it out _(he always said that) _but James asked me to come down and try, and you can hardly say no to my brother. _

_I believe the next Hogsmeade weekend is this weekend, so James has asked me to come down then. I look forward to seeing you Rose._

_All the best,_

_-Teddy. _

As I read it I couldn't help but think how nice it must be for Teddy to have such a close-knit family. He loved his adopted family so, even going so far as calling James and Albus his brothers, Lily his sister, and Harry and Ginny his parents. It surprised me that he was willing to, mostly because he was sort of on the same level as Harry in the family tree, kind of. With Teddy's father being one of Harry's father's best friends… it sort of confused me slightly.

Yet still, Albus dragged me down to the Three Broomsticks on the weekend to hopefully sort things out with… _her_. As soon as we walked in, we saw Teddy, James, and Fred sitting in a booth. I greeted Teddy with a hug and I sat down. Now the only people we were waiting for were Dominique and Lily. I was getting nervous, and I cast my eyes around for something to stare at in a bid to take my mind off it, and I landed on no other than Scorpius Malfoy, the one person I'd been dying to see. He was sitting in a booth on his own on the opposite side of the room, most likely waiting for Adrian. Suddenly, his head turned and his eyes locked with mine. Even this far away I could still see the twinkle in his grey eyes, the outline of his muscles that jumped through his thin cotton t-shirt. I wondered absent-mindedly how he wasn't freezing.

Then the door opening snapped both of us awake as we turned and stared at the door. Lily and Adrian walked in, Dominique following closely behind. She had a look of disgust on her face that was pointed towards Adrian, who had his arm wrapped around Lily's waist. Adrian's eyes searched the room until they landed on Scorpius. He leant down and gave Lily a kiss, one which she happily returned, and walked towards his grinning best friend. Lily practically skipped over to us on the opposite side of the room, with Dominique trailing behind her with the disgusted look still etched firmly upon her pointed face.

"Teddy!" Lily exclaimed, beaming at her brother.

"So, that's the infamous Adrian, huh?" Teddy joked, returning her smile. Lily giggled in confirmation, and Teddy laughed. He waited until Dominique had sat down – thankfully not on the same side as me – to start talking. "So guys, what's going on? You've been best friends since you were born!" He spoke evenly, and Dominique let out a shrill laugh.

"Not anymore. She's an attention-seeking, back-stabbing whore!" She practically screamed, her eyes full of fury.

"Yeah, attention-seeking and back-stabbing, that's me! I forced you to give me a _black eye_ and made you not talk to me for _no fucking reason_!" I glared back at her, anger building up inside me.

"Come on guys, let's just calm d–"

"Do _not _tell me to calm down, Teddy! Do you know what she did?" Dominique yelled, turning her fire-blazing eyes towards Teddy.

"Yeah, come on, enlighten us. What did I do?" I forced myself to stay calm. I leaned back and crossed my arms, waiting for her response.

"You know perfectly well what you've done! She's dating Scorpius Malfoy!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, and the whole pub went quiet, including Scorpius. I felt my face go red.

"HEY! WEASEL!" He shouted across the room to Dominique. "I KNOW YOU LOVE SCREAMING MY NAME BUT SAVE IT FOR YOUR DREAMS." Adrian smirked

"SHUT UP MALFOY, YOU'RE NOT INVOLVED IN THIS."

"WELL, I OBVIOUSLY AM SEEING AS YOU JUST SHOUTED MY NAME AND MADE A WHOLE FUCKING PUB GO SILENT, YOU INCOHERENT MORON." Adrian laughed wildly, while everyone in our booth – except Dominique – smirked.

"YOU'RE SUCH AN ARROGANT ASS, SCORPIUS MALFOY!"

"AND YOU'RE A FUGLY SLUT, HAVEN'T WE BEEN OVER THIS?"

"MALFOY WHY DON'T YOU JUST LEAVE OUR FUCKING FAMILY ALONE!" As she said this, Scorpius walked over to our table.

"Well, I have a slight problem with that."

"Oh here we go."

"You see, I'm in love with Rose." He spoke matter-of-factly, and our table froze. I stared at him, and he winked at me. He leant down and kissed my hand. I was in too much shock to say anything. My brain couldn't form words.

"Fucking finally…" I heard Albus mutter. "Malfoy." He nodded towards Scorpius, and Scorpius returned the favour. Scorpius smiled around all the dumbstruck faces of our booth until he landed on Teddy.

"Scorpius Malfoy." He said, extending his hand. Teddy was shaken out of his dumbfounded state and grinned.

"Teddy Lupin, nice to meet you." He said, smiling and shaking Scorpius' hand.

"Well, I best be off and let you guys deal with my little confession the way you Potter-Weasley-Lupin guys do. Lovely seeing you all." He smirked joyously, and turned and walked out of the pub, a silly lopsided grin playing on his lips.

"Nice to finally meet my dear old cousin." Teddy said after Scorpius had left, more to himself than anyone else.

"You know, Rose, sometimes I think I was wrong about Scorpius. This is one of those times. Now someone get me fucking drunk so I don't have to think that." Albus laughed, calling the barmaid over. "Can we have four firewhiskies…"

"Just a butterbeer for me, thanks." Teddy nodded at the barmaid.

"Okay, three firewhiskies, three butterbeers and a water for little old Rosie?" He asked, and I nodded without really hearing him. "Thanks a lot." He winked at the barmaid. He was such a flirt, Albus Potter.

"I need to go." I managed to croak out, and I ran out of the pub. I heard Albus shout "Cancel the water!" to the barmaid as I left and a smile almost crept across my face.

I ran out into the street, past busy students and shops until I found a spot that was completely empty. I leant against the wall and finally allowed myself to breathe. The cold air stung my face and bit into my fingers but I didn't care. I just sat there for hours.

I didn't even notice when night fell until I looked up after I heard a voice. Albus' voice. And boy did he sound drunk.

"Jamesy Jamesy James, you know what I lurrrrrrrrrrrve?" I heard him say, accompanied with a drunken giggle.

"No, what do you love, Albus?" I heard James fight the urge to laugh at his incapacitated brother.

"I love… you guyssssss!" Albus giggled harder, and I heard him slip on the ice. "Whoopsie!" He exclaimed, giggling some more. Albus was a stupid drunk. "Do you know what's weird, Jamesy, do you know what's really, really, really, really, _really _weird?" He asked, and I could practically see him stumble.

"No, what's weird, Albus?" James was really trying hard not to laugh.

"I think, I think, I think, that he _meant _it. Which is really, really weird, don't you think Jamesy?"

"Er, yeah, Al, I know what you're talking about… Let's get you up to the castle, shall we? Oi, Fred, gimme a hand, will you?" I figured I'd go and help them carry my drunken cousin up to Gryffindor Tower.

"Need some help?" I grinned at them, and James and Fred almost jumped out of his skin. Albus stared at me, and then about 15 seconds later did the same thing.

"Hey guys, _Rose _is here! _Rose_!" He said, his eyes widening and his voice going higher. I laughed and took hold of his other arm and wrapped it around my shoulders the same way James had, while Fred walked behind him to make sure he didn't slip backwards. We got up to the tower without him falling over, which we all felt was a big achievement. We sat him down in the armchair by the fire and then James and Fred when up to their dormitory. I stayed with Albus by the fire as his eyes fell shut.

"Rose… I really do think he meant it…" He said quietly, his eyes flickering.

"Who?"

"Malfoy…" He managed to whisper, before his eyes shut completely and his snores filled the common room.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**sooooo, what do you think? I know a lot of you might think I rushed into Scorpius admitting his love for Rose, but it was admitted then for a reason - I'm not just throwing random bits in whenever I feel like it.**

**I don't know why I've updated really quickly. Three chapters in three days, aren't you guys lucky? Haha, but seriously I have no idea why. I guess I'm just sort of getting back into it again... I'm just sort of throwing myself into my work, I guess.**

**well, please review!**

**thanks guys,**

**beccasophX**


	15. Chapter 15

_Your eyes whispered,_

_"Have we met?"_

_Across the room, your silhouette_

_Starts to make its way to me._

_The playful conversation starts,_

_Counter all your quick remarks like_

_Passing notes in secrecy._

_And it was enchanting to meet you_

_**-Enchanted; Taylor Swift**  
><em>

**CHAPTER 15**

**ROSE WEASLEY**

I was avoiding Scorpius. And I could tell that he knew I was, too. I couldn't face him after his… confession the weekend before. It's not that I didn't feel the same way. I did. I loved Scorpius. I loved him. I loved him so much it almost hurt, and I felt my heart break slightly each time he walked away and I felt it melt each time I looked into his deep, grey eyes, but I didn't know if I was ready to say it to him. I'd never told anyone I'd loved them before. Not even Lysander and I'd dated him for a year. He'd told me he loved me, but I couldn't say it back. That was part of the reason I ended it, actually. But I'd never admitted to loving someone as much as I loved Scorpius. I think I'd almost feel vulnerable, like he could hurt me so much easier if I said those three little words to him, if I confessed how I felt about him. How I loved everything about him. How I loved the way he spiked up his white-blonde hair, the way his eyes twinkled when he smiled, the way he ran his hands through his hair when he was nervous. How I loved when he stroked my cheek and when he kissed me the way he did. How I loved that when I was with him, it wasn't special because we were kissing, it was special because we were together. How I could stay forever with his strong arms wrapped around me, keeping me warm and holding me tight. How I loved that when I looked into his eyes, I knew he felt all of that too.

I lay on my bed while everyone went down to breakfast. I couldn't face going in there. Not when I knew Scorpius was in there. I was going to go get up and start getting ready when I realised someone was still in the room. Dominique. She was leaning against her bedpost, purposefully looking at anything other than me. I chose to ignore it and I reached out of bed to get my clothes.

"Rose, wait." Her voice said from behind me, and I immediately stiffened. I didn't want _another _black eye. I stayed silent and she took this as a sign to continue. "I… um… I didn't realise he… well… you know… I didn't realise you were…" She paused and cleared her throat, "I didn't realise the two of you were in love. If I had, I wouldn't have… well… gone so crazy. And I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, Rose. Will you please look at me?" I turned to face her, not sure how to respond. One part of me was screaming for me to tell her that she could shut the fuck up and leave me alone, but the other part of me – the rational part that I usually listened to – was telling me to run and hug her, forgive her for everything because she was family, after all. When I didn't say anything, she carried on. "I just got angry, Rose. Ever since I've known you, you've always been off in your own little world. You were the peacemaker between Albus and me, but that was really the only time you weren't thinking about something else. I've never known anyone who could get through to you in that little head of yours. But then Scorpius Malfoy comes along and he snaps you out of your bubble and carries you off into the sunset. I guess I was just mad because I wasn't the one who could get through to you, and you were– _are _my best friend. Scorpius was the enemy, and he was able to get you out of the world that you've lived in for sixteen years and really get you to live. I guess I was ju–"

"Dominique, what happened to your wrist?" I interrupted, noticing something that wiped all other thoughts from my mind.

"What? What do you mean? It's… nothing." She shuffled uncomfortably, hiding her arm behind her back. I ran towards her and grabbed it, but not so it would hurt her. When I finally got a good look, I saw there were cuts all over her arms. Some of them looked quite old, like they were made months before, but others looked new and a few of them looked deep.

"Dom, what is this?" I asked gently, not able to hide my concern for her. She looked like she was going to make up an excuse until she saw the look I gave her. It was my 'don't lie to me' look. I saw her face crumble, and before I knew it, we had sunk to the floor, me holding her tightly as she sobbed into my shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Rose. I'm so, so sorry." She kept repeating this until her sobs died down, and then she pulled away from me. She turned her head to dry her eyes, and when she'd finally composed herself I asked her again.

"Dom, please tell me."

"I'm sorry, Rose."

"And I forgive you. I forgive you for everything. We've been through way too much to let a few months of fighting over nothing pull us apart. But please, tell me. What happened to you?"

"I can't stop." She whispered, not looking at me. "Everytime I do it, I say I will but then everytime there's another reason to do it. But it's so stupid, Rose! I did it over such stupid things but they seemed so big at the time! There was Teddy, and then there was you, and then there was Albus, and everything got too much and after I did it each time I felt worse than before but then when something else weighed me down I just felt like there was no other way to help me and so I did it again and now I can't stop. It was all just too much, Rose, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She broke back down into tears again.

We sat on the floor like that for what seemed like hours, but could only have been a few minutes. I looked at my watch and saw it was almost time for Potions. I helped her up as she wiped her tears, and I wrapped my arms around her. I'd missed her so much. In those few minutes it seemed everything that had happened between us had simply vanished. It was all forgotten. And I didn't mind. She was my best friend. She was like the sister I never had. I needed her back, no matter what had happened.

We got dressed and headed down to Potions, our arms linked together as we laughed and wiped our eyes on the walk down. I realised as we rounded the corner to get to the dungeon door that we had Potions with the Slytherins, and that meant Scorpius. But I forced myself to be brave, because now I was with Dominique. Everything was back to normal. I could sit with her and Albus and we could finally all be together again. A nagging piece of my mind told me that I wouldn't be able to put off Scorpius for much longer, but I brushed the thought away quickly.

I spotted Albus standing on his own and I lead us towards him, our arms still linked together. His face furrowed into a state of confusion when he saw us, but then he beamed.

"Okay, this is so an excuse to go out drinking!"

"With you, _everything _is an excuse to go out drinking." I rolled my eyes, but I grinned all the same.

"I like to celebrate, is that so wrong?"

"Do you even have a liver left?"

"Somewhere." We grinned at each other, my arm still wrapped closely around Dominique's. I'd used a spell to cover her scars and I'd promised not to say anything to anyone else about them, on the condition that she talked to me when something bothered her and not go straight to cutting.

Slughorn called us in and we sat down together at our old table, and I smiled.

_This is how it is supposed to be._

But my eyes couldn't help but stray from the board to two rows across, where Scorpius was sat. I saw his head turn slightly and I quickly looked back to Slughorn. I felt Scorpius' eyes bore into me, and I felt so immensely guilty. I'd been avoiding him for a week now, it was already Friday. He knew I was avoiding him, too. He'd stayed out of my way a bit, but not enough so when if I went down into the Great Hall I _knew _he wouldn't come over. It's Scorpius. He still would. I just wasn't ready.

I felt his eyes on me for the rest of the lesson and for the rest of my lessons with him all day until dinner. Dominique and I changed out of our robes and into our normal clothes and headed down to dinner, where Albus was already sat, presumably stuffing his face full of chicken and potatoes and everything else he could get his hands on. We sat down, and sure enough, Albus had already piled his plate full of everything in sight.

"I fucking love house-elves. Why are they such damn good cooks?" He asked through mouthfuls of mashed potato.

"Do you _ever_ stop eating?"

"I'm hungry." Albus shrugged, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which, I guess, it was. I rolled my eyes at him and helped myself to a spoonful of vegetables.

Then someone tapped on my shoulder.

I spun round and I expected to be looking up into Scorpius' beautiful grey eyes, but instead I was looking into a pair of light blue ones. Lysander Scamander. Behind him, on the opposite side of the room, I saw Scorpius straighten up and stare over in my direction.

"Hey Rose." Lysander spoke, snapping my eyes back to him.

"Er, hi, Lysander." I replied awkwardly, not really sure what to say.

"So I was wondering if you wanted to go out this weekend." He said, trying to act casual. It almost made me laugh.

"I… I'm sorry, Lysander, I can't. I'm sort of… unavailable." I said, glancing over at Scorpius. Lysander didn't seem to notice.

"Rose, can I talk to you over there a second?" He asked, and not waiting for me to reply he grabbed my arm and pulled me off to the side. Dominique and Albus shot me worried glances but I shook my head, mouthing 'its fine' to them. "Rose what do you mean 'not available'? I thought we had a thing?"

"Er, no offence, but why the fuck did you think that?"

"Don't play stupid with me, Rose, I know you like me." He said, pressing his body closer to mine. I tried to push him away but he stayed firmly where he stood. Some people on different tables turned to stare at us.

"Lysander, please stop, people are looking…" I said, struggling to break away from his strong hold.

"You don't care, Rose, you want this." He tried to tilt my head towards him. I fought against him, and more people turned to look at us.

"Get – Off – Me!" I said, finally managing to push him away. He grabbed my arm and gripped it tight.

"You know you want me, Rose. I know you do." He twisted my arm slightly, and suddenly Scorpius was over him in an instant.

"You know, Scamander, I don't think she wants you. Shocking, that." Scorpius said lightly, prying Lysander's hand off of my arm with ease.

"This has nothing to do with you, Malfoy!" He spat at Scorpius, yanking his arm out of Scorpius' grip.

"Hmmm, a lot of people have been saying that lately." He winked at me. "Only, you don't seem to realise you're wrong. Hey Dominique!" He shouted over at my cousin, and Dominique walked over to us as calmly as she could.

"Yeah, Scorpius?" I could see the mental struggle she had with herself as she battled not to say his surname.

"Sorry about the 'ugly whore' thing back in third year. Oh, and the stuff last weekend. My bad." He spoke lightly and cheerfully, and I resisted the urge to laugh. Dominique snorted.

"Sure, whatever. Sorry about that shit too." She held out her hand and Scorpius shook it, and I could hardly believe my eyes. Neither could Lysander, apparently.

"If you guys don't mind moving the girl-talk somewhere else, Rose and I were in the middle of something." He snarled at both of them.

And that's when Scorpius punched him.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**okay guys, I know my last few chapters have been quite short, but that's because we're just building up to the big one. This story is, inevitably, ending. I know the whole thing is pretty short, it's only going to be like 5 more chapters at the most.  
>Probably.<br>Most likely.  
>Whatever, you get the point. <strong>

**I know some of you won't like the whole 'Rose forgiving Dominique' thing, because of everything Dominique's done, but Rose really needed her best friend back, and for her it was easy to forgive everything because they were family. Please don't put any comments about that, because it is there for a reason.**

**please review!**

**thanks guys,**

**beccasophX**


	16. Chapter 16

_The book of love is long and boring_

_And written very long ago_

_Full of charts,_

_And facts and figures_

_And instructions for dancing_

_And I, I love it when you read to me_

_And you, you can read me anything_

_**-The Book of Love; The Magnetic Fields**  
><em>

**CHAPTER 16**

**SCORPIUS MALFOY**

Blood spurted from Scamander's nose almost instantly. Dominique looked weak at the sight of the blood, and Rose had her hand over her mouth in horror. Scamander had fucking fainted, the prick. The whole hall was silent. Well, except from mine and Albus' uncontrollable laughter.

"Mr Malfoy! How _dare _you! Explain yourself!" McGonagall had made her way over and was demanding answers from me – answers that I couldn't give because I was laughing so much. He was such a fucking prick, he deserved to be punched. Especially after grabbing _my _Rose like that.

_Again with the psycho thing, really?_

"Mr Malfoy, detention! Two weeks!" She threw a disgusted look at my laughing form. Her look of distaste deepened when she saw Albus, who was doubled up with laughter, literally unable to contain himself. "You too, Mr Potter! The nerve of you, boy!" She turned around and walked away, as Madam Pomfrey conjured up a stretcher and magically lifted up Scamander onto it. Albus and I were still laughing as Scamander's bloody form exited the room. The hall immediately broke out into a buzz of noise, everyone discussing what had just happened. Most of the girls were shocked and worried for the dickhead, whereas the boys were laughing as much as Albus and I were.

"He was just like… and then you were… and then he was…!" Albus reinacted the scene, ending by falling on the floor, still unable to contain his laughter. I joined in, incapable of stopping myself. I turned to Rose when I'd calmed down.

"So, my red Rose, was my gallant rescue enough to make you stop avoiding me?" I winked at her, and she blushed. I loved it when she blushed.

"I'm sorry. There's just been so much go–"

"Spare me the excuses, Rose, I don't mind. Well, I mean, obviously I mind, but I mean… it's forgotten. Besides, I have a present for you, remember?" She nodded weakly, and I rummaged in my pocket for the ring box. I saw her eyes widen when she saw it. "But no, I'm not proposing." I winked at her and she smiled back. I opened the box and I pulled out the ring, stowing the box back in my pocket. I slid the ring onto the ring finger of her right hand.

It adjusted to her finger so it fit perfectly.

I let out an almost inaudible gasp, as did she, when the words _'semper et aeternum' _appeared on the ring. I wasn't aware of this part. She looked up at me questioningly. In the back of my mind I noticed the hall was silent again.

"Scorpius, wha–"

"Wait. Just tell me how you feel first." I nodded to her, taking hold of her shoulders and looking deep into her chocolate brown eyes.

"I…" She looked around, and noticed everyone was looking at her. She shook her head.

"Rose, I need to know this. It's not going to make a difference whether we do this here or somewhere private. Either I walk away with my dignity intact or I don't. Please, just let me know."

She stayed silent so I released my hold on her. I gave the ring one more look. The ring that adjusted to her finger, just as I knew it would.

But I'd lost.

"Oh."

And I walked away.

**XXXXX**

When I woke on Saturday morning I was tempted to stay in that bed forever.

I'd lost.

That's all I kept thinking.

I'd lost.

Adrian was trying to cheer me up. Poor bastard. Wasn't gonna work. Could've told him that from the start. Actually I did. But still, he persisted. He told me that Fate had been asking for me. I already knew she had been; she tried to catch up with me as I'd left the Great Hall.

"_Scorpius! Scorpius!" I'd heard her shout for me, panic in her voice._

"_What, Fate?" I almost yelled at her, noting the exasperation in my voice._

"_Oh, what did she do to you?" She squealed as she caught up to me. "That little bitch! I _told _her she wasn't to touch you. I _told _her to stay away from you. Nasty, attention-seeking whore!" _

"_Listen, Fate," I said, my voice dangerously low, "If I ever hear you even fucking breathe a bad word about Rose, I will personally see to it that you don't ever make that fucking mistake again. You are _nothing_, Fate. Now I'd appreciate it if you left me the fucking hell alone." I turned and I stalked off, leaving her rooted to the spot._

"Mate, you need to get up. You'll get over her. It was probably just a crush, anyway." Adrian reasoned.

"No, it wasn't."

"How'd you know?"

"Because I gave her the ring. And it fit."

"Er, am I supposed to know what this ring is?"

"My grandfather's ring. He died a few months… or weeks or something ago. My parents didn't tell me. He left me the ring. It's some sort of 'true love' bullshit ring. It adjusts to the finger of the owner's true love. It adjusted to Rose's. _Fucking bullshit!_" I kicked the bedpost.

"Ah, mate, I'm sorry. But hey, if she's your 'true love' or whatever, then you've got to get her back at some point, don't you?" He said, trying to act cheerful.

"Sure, whatever. I'm gonna go eat." I said, dismissing his comment and heading down to breakfast.

**XXXXX**

**ALBUS POTTER**

As much as I hated to admit it, I felt bad for Scorpius. I _pitied _a Malfoy. Something was very wrong. But I couldn't help it. She hadn't even told him she didn't love him, she just didn't say anything. I was almost mad at Rose for it. But not really, 'cause I still didn't like the guy. Even if he did punch Scamander.

But I knew Rose did love Scorpius, as much as it annoyed me. She loved him, so why didn't she say it? I voiced this thought to her down at breakfast.

"I don't _know_, Albus, I just couldn't do it."

"But do you?" I asked. I couldn't help being a nosy bastard, it's who I am. She didn't answer for several moments, and her head snapped up when the doors of the Great Hall opened and Scorpius walked in. He looked a mess, the poor dickhead. Rose's eyes followed him as he sat down, and I noticed him purposefully not looking towards our table.

"Yeah. I think I do." She sighed, "I love him, Al. I really do. So why can't I say it to _him_?"

"Okay, as much as I hate to admit this, he… deserves to know." I grumbled, making Rose smile.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"Fuck you."

"Love you too, Al." She winked at me.

Her eyes were on Scorpius for the rest of breakfast, which seemed pointless to me as he wasn't even doing anything interesting; he wasn't even eating. He just sat in his seat looking at an empty plate.

_Boring fucker_.

I finished my breakfast and I headed out the door. I waited outside the Great Hall with my back against the wall until Scorpius came out. When he did, he looked worse than he had when he walked back in. I got a good look at him, and I wished I hadn't. His hair was messed up in the way that wasn't intentional, his eyes were bloodshot, and his skin was waxy. He walked right past me without noticing me, and I resisted the urge to slap him. Grudgingly, I went after him.

"Malfoy!" I called after him, making him stop.

"Potter." He nodded towards me. I noticed his eyes were blank, empty.

"I… I… gah why is this so hard for me to say?" I cringed, trying to figure out how I was going to put what I was thinking. He shrugged, his eyes still blank. "Oh for fuck sake, I don't do the big fucking dramatic moments. But she does… feel that. What you feel. So, don't give up on her or whatever." I ended awkwardly, shuffling my feet. I looked up and his eyes were still empty, no spark of life behind them.

"If she did, she would've said. Bye, Albus." He turned and walked away, his voice flat and emotionless. I didn't know what shocked me more, how detached he looked or how casually he used my forename.

"Fucking…" I grumbled, kicking my feet and walking back up to the common room.

Rose and Dom were sitting in our usual spot by the fire, talking about the random shit that they talk about. Merlin, they didn't waste any fucking time catching up, did they?

"Brown was saying all this crap about Malf– Scorpius being hers, and how they were gonna get married and shit like that and I was just there like 'yea okay, sure, that's gonna happen…' and she was going on about him and all this and I swear she's fucking crazy!" Dominique was saying. Rose was laughing, but her smile didn't entirely reach her eyes. I knew how much she was hurting, and I knew how much she loved Scorpius. And as much as I hated to be the one to do it – I knew what I had to do. I had to get them back together.

Fucking hell.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**soooo? haha, I'm almost sorry. I know I had it all nice and happy and now I've gone and ruined it, haha. I couldn't help it though, they can't get together now, for reasons. It's all building up to a certain point, don't be mad;)**

**I really have to thank you guys for all the lovely reviews you've given me over the past few days, I do love you guys:D I will ask again for you to review - ideas, comments, anything you think would be helpful or anything you liked? **

**thanks guys!**

**beccasophX**


	17. Chapter 17

_Your voice was the soundtrack of my summer_

_Do you know you're unlike any other?_

_You'll always be my thunder, and I said,_

_Your eyes are the brightest of all the colours_

_I don't wanna ever love another_

_You'll always be my thunder_

_So bring on the rain_

_And bring on the thunder_

_**-Thunder; Boys Like Girls**  
><em>

**CHAPTER 17**

**DOMINIQUE WEASLEY**

God, a few months away from Rose and I miss practically everything…

I think Scorpius and I were on almost good terms now. Since we both sort of apologised. And I was almost glad about it, which was a bit weird. I'd never considered being… _friends _with Scorpius before – not with Albus' pure contempt for him. It was unthinkable. And then Rose goes and fucking falls in love with him. Jeez, gotta love this family.

You could see it in his eyes that he loved her. I kicked myself for not realising it before. He looked at her, and he was gone for her. The hard shell that was always up came crumbling down whenever she was around. You could see how much he loved her without even needing to be with them for more than ten seconds. His eyes sparkled when she smiled at him, and you know in that instant that he would go to the ends of the earth to make her happy.

_Fucking sappy twat._

It'd been two weeks since Rose _didn't _say it back, and Scorpius was more of a mess than before. His eyes were constantly bloodshot, with deep purple circles surrounding them. He never bothered with his hair anymore so it stuck up wildly. And not even in a good way. He'd got skinnier from lack of eating practically anything. He only ate when he did because he was forced to by Albus – yes, _Albus_. That was the weirdest part of this whole thing.

They'd become… friends.

Adrian and Albus had sort of banded together to try and get Scorpius, well, better. And Scorpius didn't even seem to care. Albus sat at the Slytherin table now mostly, laughing with Adrian and shoving food down Scorpius throat so he didn't starve. Everytime I saw them together I had to blink several times and rub my eyes just to make sure I wasn't dreaming. Scorpius and Albus. Malfoy and Potter. It was downright the creepiest thing I'd ever seen, and I've seen Victoire and Teddy… together. Ugh. No one seemed to notice, except me, that it wasn't just Scorpius that Albus was getting along with; it was Adrian. Adrian the guy who was dating Albus' baby sister – and everyone knew how overprotective Albus was of Lily. But they seemed to have an agreement to get along for Scorpius' sake. Or Lily's sake. I wasn't really sure which.

I recalled the memory of Teddy and Victoire on one of the midnight strolls Rose doesn't know I take and shuddered violently. I swear I was going to need fucking therapy and she was going to pay fo–

"Damn it, Albus! You don't understand!"

"Yeah, obviously!"

"Don't you get it? I love her! I. Love. Her!"

I heard voices around the corner, and I knew it was Albus and Scorpius. I poked my head around slowly, praying they wouldn't see me. Scorpius was on the floor with his back against the wall and his knees up, while Albus stood over him. Albus looked frustrated, his brow furrowed, and his hair being messed up by his hands. Scorpius, on the other hand… well, Scorpius looked… dejected. There was no other word for it. He was so hopelessly in love with Rose and she rejected him, pretty much. And now he was lost without her. It made me feel for the guy.

"Yeah, and she loves you so what's the problem?" Albus practically yelled, exasperated.

"That's the fucking problem! She doesn't love me, Al!" Scorpius yelled back, while I was trying to process that Scorpius called Albus 'Al'. Oh, the weirdness would not end.

"Yes she do–!"

"If she loved me, she would've said by now." Scorpius said, cutting him off. "It's been two weeks, Albus. It's been three since I told her! If she loved me, she would've said it. If she loved me, she wouldn't be putting me through this. If she loved me, it would be her here right now, and not you." There was such a sad tone to his voice I almost felt my own heart break along with Scorpius'.

"Mate," Albus began, and again it took me a while to process it. _Mate_? "You have to trust me on this one. She loves you. She really does. She's just not ready to say it to you yet."

"I can't wait forever, Al."

"No, I agree." And for a moment, confusion flickered across his face, and I knew he'd just realised how weird the situation was. "Which is why I'm going to help you. But only on one condition… well, two, actually."

"Which are?"

"One, that you have to eat something and fucking sort yourself out. You look fucking homeless." He grinned, "And two, you make sure you treat her right. Because if you _ever _hurt her I will–"

"I would never hurt her. You know I wouldn't."

"Yeah, I guess you're right on that one. So do we have an agreement?" Scorpius didn't bother to respond, and just stood up, indicating to Albus that his answer was yes. "Good. Now go back to your common room, get some sleep and try and do _something _with your hair…" Albus shook his head jokingly, and, for the first time in two weeks, Scorpius grinned. His smile lit up his eyes and I knew right then that these two weren't just friends. They were brothers. And they would be like that forever.

_God this family is messed up._

**XXXXX**

**ALBUS POTTER (Third Person Perspective)**

Albus made it back to the Gryffindor common room without being spotted by Filch and immediately sunk into the armchair by the fire.

_Thank Merlin for house-elves, _he thought, embracing the warmth of the fire. In the past two weeks, Albus' life had pretty much turned upside down. Rose was hardly speaking, and he was friends – yes, friends – with _Scorpius Malfoy_, the boy he'd counted as his enemy for the best part of six years. Scorpius was doing worse than Rose, though, and that was saying something. Rose barely ate, didn't concentrate in lessons, and hardly spoke at all anymore. And those things were the three things Rose was known for. Scorpius… Scorpius was just a mess, emotionally and physically. Albus could swear he was one sleepless night away from a breakdown.

Albus closed his eyes, seeing the flicker of the firelight through his eyelids. He shifted his body into a more comfortable position and began to try and sleep. And then someone stood in front of him, blocking the warmth of the fire from getting to his face. His eyes flickered open to see the slim form of Dominique Weasley looming over him. Immediately he shut his eyes again.

"Dom, can't this wait till morning? I'm trying to fucking sleep!"

"Yeah I know, I gathered that from your eyes being closed and you curled up here like a little girl. Who knew Albus Potter was so adorable when he slept?" She sniggered, driving Albus to sigh and force his eyes open once more.

"Make it quick."

"Oh, Al, what are we going to do?" Dominique's shoulders slumped as she dropped all pretences of having things figured out and sat on the floor beside Albus.

"Whaddya mean?" Albus replied, stifling a yawn.

"Rose and Scorpius! I mean, you're taking care of Scorpius and that's fine, but I'm here _trying _to get through to Rose and it's just not working! She's just so cut off from everything. When she looks at me, it's like she's not really there. She thinks he hates her." She added in a small voice.

"That's fucking retarded. Right, I'm gonna go and set her fucking straight before she has a fucking meltdown…" Albus tried to lift himself out of the armchair and immediately slumped back down. "Tomorrow. I'll set her straight tomorrow." He decided, closing his eyes once more. Dominique sighed, realising she wasn't going to get any more conversation out of him tonight. She picked herself up from where she'd been sitting and headed upstairs to the dorm. When she got there, she was disappointed to find Rose awake, as she had been many nights before when Dominique came up.

Back downstairs, Albus was trying fervently to get to sleep.

_Why is this family so fucking complicated? _He thought, realising how tired he was going to be when he woke up. _And why am _I _always dragged into it?_

He sighed to himself, expelling all thoughts of his cousin and his friend from his mind and slowly drifting to sleep.

He'd barely been asleep for two minutes when he heard several loud thuds coming from behind him on the stairs, like someone was falling. Then, one louder, more sickly thud as whomever it was reached the bottom. Instantly, he leapt up from the armchair, practically sprinting over to the stairs, knowing who had fallen.

Flaming red hair spilled on the floor as the girl lay on her front. Albus was frantic; desperately wishing it wasn't who he knew it was. He rolled the girl over, her face confirming Albus' fears. A small puddle of blood oozed from her head where she had hit the wall on the way down.

Rose lay with her lip cut and a bruise on her temple, unconscious in Albus' arms.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**Okay, that didn't turn out nearly as well as I'd pictured, and this was one of the first chapters I'd planned. Damn. Well, the Albus bit was, anyway, and I planned on bringing in Albus and Scorpius' friendship in there somewhere, and then I got a review about maybe putting in Dominique's point of view and then the idea hit me, so thankyou to #owlgirlie387!  
><strong>**But yea, I'm sorry for how this chapter turned out, it was meant to be so much better! Grrrrrrr...**

**Anyway, I know this chapter was pretty short and I'm really sorry about that too, it was meant to be so much longer-.-! I just needed to get to the point of the whole thing which was Rose's fall, and I couldn't think of anything else to write anyway. I had major writer's block, you don't know how long I've been sitting at my laptop screen mentally killing myself for not being able to think of anything.**

**Well, unfortunately for me, my half term is nearly over. I go back on tuesday and it's friday. Well actually, it's saturday, seeing as it is 3am... God why is it always at 3 that I post these-.-? But me going back to school will probably mean less frequent updates, but then it's almost over at the moment anyway. Only a few more chapters left. I am planning a sequel to this story, however, so when this is finished and when I post it, _please_ read. **

**I love youuuuuuuu!**

**thanks guys!**

**beccasophX**


	18. Chapter 18

_Love of mine,_

_Someday you will die_

_But I'll be close behind_

_I'll follow you into the dark_

_No blinding lights_

_Or tunnels to gates of white_

_Just our hands clasped so tight_

_Waiting for the hint of a spark_

_**-I Will Follow You Into The Dark; Death Cab for Cutie**  
><em>

**CHAPTER 18**

**ALBUS POTTER**

Rose now lay in the hospital wing. She'd been unconscious for a day and a half. The cut on her lip had been healed almost immediately by Madam Pomfrey but the bruise on her temple and her head wound were apparently more serious.

"I don't _fucking _care if they're more serious! You can mend broken fucking bones for fuck sake! You can grow them fucking back! Help her!" I'd screamed at the matron, who didn't seem to care how many expletives I used on her.

"Mr Potter, I appreciate that you are concerned for your cousin," She'd replied calmly, wrapping a bandage around Rose's head, "But there is nothing to be done right now. All we can do now is wait for Miss Weasley to wake up."

I kicked the wall in frustration, nearly tearing my hair out. It was my fault. I know it was. If I'd just got there sooner, if I'd realised what was happening sooner. My dad would've done it. My dad would've been there. If it was Ron or Hermione he would've been able to save them. So why couldn't I?

At that moment, Scorpius and Dominique came bursting into the hospital wing. If the situation wasn't this bad I would've marvelled at the fact that they came in together. Instead, I told them what had happened – well, what I knew anyway – and that we couldn't do anything about it yet. Scorpius kicked the wall just as I had. Dominique was almost in tears, obviously believing it was her fault.

"But, I don't understand, how did she fall? I mean, _why _did she fall? We all know Rose doesn't run,"

"Damn straight…" I muttered.

"So there's no danger of her tripping after _running_ down the stairs…"

"I didn't hear any other footsteps apart from the… er… when she fell. It wasn't like she was running. I think she fell right from the top." My voice trailed off as all three of us thought about the two possibilities left to us, neither of them good.

"So either someone pushed her, or she did it herself…" Dominique voiced the combined thought we were all having.

"Rose wouldn't do–" I said, trying to reassure myself of that fact, but then my eyes landed on Scorpius and I thought of how different Rose had been for the past few weeks. We didn't know what Rose would do anymore.

"All we know now," Scorpius said quietly, his face turned away from us. He blamed himself for this. "Is that Rose is the only one who knows what really happened, and she's uncon–" He cleared his throat. "She's asleep. So all we can do is ask her when she wakes up."

Dominique and I nodded in agreement, taking a place by Rose's side as Scorpius stayed by the window. Almost as if they were waiting for us to finish our conversation, James, Fred, Hugo, and Lily burst through the doors of the hospital wing and crowded around her bed, all of them firing questions all at once.

"What happened?"

"Is she okay?"

"What the fuck?"

"When is she going to wake up?"

"Will she be okay?"

"What the _fuck_?"

"Are mom and dad coming?"

"Why isn't she healed yet?"

"WHAT. THE. FUCK?"

If it was any other time I would've been amused at my brother's lack of questions other than "what the fuck?" but instead I just glared at him. I let Dominique explain, I was too tired.

"Only six visitors at a time!" Madam Pomfrey came running out of her office to scold us for there being one too many of us. Immediately we all started to protest.

"Oh come on, can't you make an exception? Just this once?"

"She needs all the people who care about her right now!"

"I'll go." Scorpius said, surprising everyone.

"Scorp, mate, you don't have to…"

"She should be with her family right now. And I expect if she does wake up soon, my face will not be one she wants to see." And with that, he walked out of the door. The rest of us stood there in stunned silence until–

"What was that all about?" Hugo sat with his arms crossed and his lip pouting. I swear, he might be fourteen but he acted about six. Always crying to mummy and daddy when Rose didn't tell him something. It was so goddamn annoying. He might be family, but he was still fucking irritating.

"Rose is in love with Malf– Scorpius, Scorpius is in love with Rose, get over it." Dominique said in a bored tone, making a half smile play across my lips.

"Ewwwwwww!" He squealed, forcing James to put a silencing charm on him. Hugo didn't seem to notice at first, and then he realised that when he opened his mouth no sound was coming out. He sat down on a chair and pouted huffily at James, who sniggered at him. It almost felt wrong to be laughing while Rose sat next to me, unconscious, but I knew Rose would've laughed too so I wasn't bothered about it too much.

She stirred slightly, and the rest of us fell silent so quickly you would've thought James had put silencing charms on all of us. She started to murmur in her sleep.

"Dear fucking God, she's fucking sleep-talking." I said, slightly amused.

"Scorpius… Scorpius…" She mumbled, a dreamy smile fluttering across her face. Then quickly her brow furrowed and she turned from side to side frantically, scaring the hell out of all of us. "Lysander! Please don't do this!" She murmured louder, panic flashing on her face. Her eyes opened fully, but she seemed to still be asleep. Her irises moved crazily, moving side to side and up and down but never seeing us. She was still sleeping. How was she still sleeping?

"Madam Pomfrey! Pomfrey!" Someone finally had the sense to call for the matron, and a small part of the back of my brain was slightly surprised that it was Fred. I would've thought it'd be me or James. Then Pomfrey rushed out of her office, running towards Rose. In her hand she carried a bottle which I could just make out the word 'dreamless'. She quickly poured the potion into Rose's mouth. Nothing happened for a moment or two, and then Rose's eyelids began to droop again, but not before she saw all of us for the first time.

"What…?" And then she fell into a dreamless sleep.

Dominique looked up at me and I knew we were both thinking the same thing. We were gonna fuck Scamander _up_, and we needed Scorpius.

**XXXXX**

We left the hospital wing almost immediately, saying something lame about Rose's parents being here soon and that there was only allowed 'six visitors' at a time. They seemed to buy it, but if I knew James there would be questions later.

Immediately after Dom and I had entered the common room and shooed some first-years away from our seats, we began discussing Scamander.

"What the hell do you think that was?" Dominique said as soon as we sat down.

"I have no idea. It was either something left from when they were going out or something… recent."

"My guess is recent. And it's got to be something to do with Scorpius."

"Er, how'd you get there?"

"Well, Scorpius was what she was saying right before the Lysander part, right? And its obvious Lysander thinks she's been all not-Rose because he thinks she's choosing between him and Scorpius."

"That's fucking retarded, how the hell did you come up with that?"

"Well, he, er, told me." Dom said sheepishly. I ignored the fact that she didn't tell me this because it was Rose who was at stake here and that was more important.

"Merlin, he's a fucking twat. I didn't know someone could be that much of a fucking dickhead."

"Yeah well, not much to be done about that one. What do we do?"

"We get Scorpius, we find Lysander, and we beat the fuck out of him until he tells us what he's done to Rose."

"Fantastic." She said, her mouth spreading into a mischievous and determined grin.

We leapt up from our seats instantly and went to go find Scorpius, and I knew exactly where he'd be – and not just because I had my dad's map with me. He'd be by the library. It's where he liked to go to think. I don't know why, but he did. And sure enough, when I looked down on the map and found his little dot, that's where he was. Just outside the library. Dominique rolled her eyes and we sprinted there. We got there in less than four minutes, which I was pretty pleased about. I caught my breath quickly – the advantage of being a Quidditch player – while Dominique stood gasping and clutching her side.

Scorpius looked up at us with bewilderment as we stood over him. I explained the whole story as Dominique was still wheezing, and by the end he was stood up, his face contorted with rage.

"Where is that mother fucking bastard?" His voice was dangerously low, and there was a spark in his eyes that told me the old Scorpius was returning. But this time, I knew the old Scorpius and I weren't gonna be enemies.

Scamander was in the bathroom, which couldn't be more perfect if we'd planned it. Now we could ambush him. We ran to where he was and I heard Dominique mutter,

"Oh great. More running." I smiled as I caught up to Scorpius, who was already miles ahead of me. Merlin, he did love her, didn't he?

We arrived outside the bathroom, Dom wheezing again. When she had caught her breath, we all charged in. Scamander was evidently about to leave the bathroom and was shocked to say the least when Scorpius and I lunged at him, our wands to his throat.

"Get the fuck off me, Malfoy!" He spat at Scorpius, and Dominique slapped him.

"What did you do to Rose?" I said into his ear, my voice as low as Scorpius' was.

"What? What are you talk–" Dom cut him off with another slap.

"What did you do to Rose?" She asked it now, pointing her own wand between his eyes.

"Just because she doesn't love _him _doesn't make it automatically my fault!"

"Er, well, actually, she does love him and when she's lying in the hospital wing and screams your name frantically trying to get you to stop doing whatever the hell it was you were doing, it kinda does make it your fault." Dominique said, not moving her wand in the slightest.

"Hey, don't blame me that the girl loves to scream my name." He put on the arrogant smirk that only Scorpius or I could pull off and this time Dominique didn't get to slap him, because Scorpius punched him. Right in the nose. Again. The look on Scamander's face was even funnier than the last time and I forced myself not to double up laughing again. But boy, it was hard.

"Don't ever speak about her like that again, you dirty obnoxious fucker." Scorpius kicked him in his shin and grabbed him by his hair and yanked it backwards. "Understood?"

"Just because you lost, mate. She didn't tell you she loved you, and _I won_. She will never be yours, and I've made sure of that!" As soon as he'd said it, he knew he'd said too much. Immediately, Dom, Scorp, and I caught on, but Dom voiced what we all were thinking.

"Rose wasn't ready to tell Scorpius that she loved him, at first. And then, I'm guessing she decided she was, and she went to go find Scorpius and tell him. But instead, she found you. And you threatened her with something so that she wouldn't tell Scorpius and that you would get her." She finished with a disgusted look crossing her pointed features and she spat at his feet. "You disgust me."

"So what about the stairs?" Scorpius asked, his face was a mask; empty and blank. But if you looked in his eyes you could see a glimmer of hope there. Now he knew that the girl he loved returned his feelings. Now he knew that Rose loved him too.

"Fate." Dom said immediately said. Scorpius and I turned to look at her.

"What?" We said in unison.

"Fate Brown. It's logical. Everyone knows how much Fate wants you, Scorpius, and now we know how much Scamander here wants Rose. So, when Rose 'leaves' Scorpius, Fate's there to pick up the pieces and he eventually falls in love with her while Scamander gets Rose."

"You know what, Dom? That's actually pretty smart." I said, nodding my head approvingly.

"Jeez, you act like I'm retarded or something. I am a Weasley, remember?"

"Exactly." Scorpius and I both smirked, again talking in unison.

"You have to stop doing that." Dom looked at us in annoyance. "So what do we do with this dickhead?" She'd barely got the sentence out when I punched him, knocking him out cold.

"He's good here for a while." I said, and Scorpius sniggered.

"Right. Okay. Now what do we do?" Dominique looked at us blankly, and she had a point. What were we supposed to do?

"We need to go see Rose." Scorpius said, the mask still up. Dom and I nodded and we headed out the door.

**XXXXX**

"Rose! Rose!" We ran towards the hospital wing, yelling for Rose as though it would wake her up. Ron and Hermione weren't in there yet, and it looked as though Pomfrey had sent the rest of the family out.

She lay peacefully, and Scorpius sat down beside her, lacing his fingers through hers. I braced myself for the sick feeling in my stomach but it didn't come. I was almost confused but I shook it off.

"Rose. My beautiful red Rose." He whispered to her. He lifted his wand out of his pocket and conjured up a single red rose and let go of her hand. He placed the rose in it in his place and turned and walked away. Damn, that bastard was smooth.

"Scorpius…" Rose mumbled, and I knew she was about to wake up. Almost instantaneously, Scorpius was at her side.

"I'm here. I'm always here."

"Promise?" She whispered, her eyes flickering open. She snaked her hand through Scorpius' and he smiled his little sappy smile.

"Always."

"Thankyou." She murmured, her hand clutching his hand tight. Her eyes lowered shut again, and her heavy breathing told us she'd fallen back asleep.

"I love you." Scorpius replied in a soft voice, kissing her forehead and standing up to leave her in peace, but her hand held on tightly to his, not allowing him to leave her.

"Stay." I said, making him jump. "Stay with her so she's not alone."

Scorpius nodded and turned back to Rose, sitting back down in the seat and holding her hand tightly.

Again, I realised the sick feeling in my stomach that I usually got wasn't there. I wondered about it for a moment and looking back at them I knew what it was. I no longer counted Scorpius has the boy I have a truce with, or my enemy. I counted him as my best friend. Looking at them, I realised how perfect this picture was.

_Great, being a sappy git is contagious._

I grinned and I walked back up to Gryffindor Tower with Dominique. Everything was going to be okay. Everything.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**Soooooo? This chapter has a lot more in it than the previous one, and I'm hoping this has all made sense to you.  
>Okay, first up, I know some of you will be like "There's no way Lysander would do that". But if you say that, you don't really understand it. You see, Lysander knows that Rose is in love with Scorpius, but Lysander is in love with Rose. So if he got Rose to stay away from Scorpius for a bit while Fate swoops in and gets Scorpius, she would think that Scorpius didn't really love her and that she was better off with Lysander, who did. It is flawed logic, but that's the point. It wasn't going to work because Lysander didn't take into account the whole Fate pushing Rose down the stairs might make Scorp a bit angry. but yanoeeee.<strong>

**Thankyou so much for your reviews, they make me smile:) There is only a few chapters left of this story, as I have said, and I hope you've enjoyed reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it.**

**please review!**

**thanks guys!**

**beccasophX**


	19. Chapter 19

_Oh, but you were so shy, so was I_

_Maybe that's why it was so hard to believe_

_When you smiled and said to me_

_"Are you gonna kiss me or not?_

_Are we gonna do this or what?_

_I think you know I like you a lot_

_But you're 'bout to miss your shot_

_Are you gonna kiss me or not?"_

_**-Are You Gonna Kiss Me Or Not?; Thompson Square**  
><em>

**CHAPTER 19**

**ROSE WEASLEY**

"Rose! Rose, oh where is she? Rose!" I heard my mother's frantic voice and my eyes snapped open, I tried to sit up but my head spun. I went to reach up with my left hand but I found it already in use. Scorpius was sleeping beside me, my hand clutched in his with his head resting on my bed. He looked so beautiful when he slept. I reached up to feel my head with my right hand instead, and instead I felt a bandage.

_Shit_.

The fall. I remembered someone's hands on my back as I tried to make my way downstairs to the common room. I'd needed to talk to Albus about… Scorpius. I smiled as I remembered and I looked fondly down at him. I remembered a cackle of laughter and a swish of blonde hair; blonde hair that wasn't Dominique's and it could only have been one other person. Fate. Fate goddamn Brown. She was going to get it when I was out of here.

Then suddenly the doors of the hospital wing smashed open and Scorpius was wide awake, pointing his wand towards the door and not letting go of my hand. My mother and father burst through the door, accompanied by Madam Pomfrey and Professor McGonagall. They all froze when they saw Scorpius at my bedside with his wand pointed at them, and my hand clutched in his. Instantly, I felt both of us let go and Scorpius lowered his wand sheepishly.

"Forgive me," He nodded towards them all, "Instinct, I suppose."

"Rose! Rose, are you alright?" My mother rushed over to me, not being able to find it in her to be curious about a Malfoy being at my bedside.

"I'm fine, mum." I grumbled, slightly embarrassed at my mother fussing over me with Scorpius in the room.

"Rose, what is _he _doing here?" My father said, as if Scorpius wasn't standing right next to him. I opened my mouth to answer, but Scorpius jumped to my rescue.

"Forgive me, sir," He was the epitome of manners, "Albus sent me to check on Rose in the night as he made sure Lily was alright and I must have fallen asleep. I'm very sorry." He said politely, inclining his head towards my father. Scorpius held out his hand for my father to shake, "I'm Scorpius Malfoy, sir."

Dad simply looked at him, and vaguely I wondered how it was possible for someone to look blank and disgusted at the same time. Scorpius lowered his hand, seeming to accept that it wasn't going to be shaken, and stepped back, allowing my father to stand beside me. For one guilty moment, I wished he hadn't.

"Rose, why is he here?" Dad said again, not even bothering to lower his voice, and I knew this time he meant why it was Scorpius Malfoy and not someone like James.

"Um… Well… remember at Christmas…?" I trailed off, seeing my father's face turn beetroot red with anger. I flinched as I prepared myself for the verbal beating I was about to endure. But then he stopped, noticing my reaction. He looked puzzled. Scorpius took this opportunity to speak again.

"If I may, sir, I would like to offer an explanation to why it is me here and not perhaps Dominique or one of Rose's many other cousins." My father nodded for him to continue. "Your daughter and I are a couple. I understand that you may not be comfortable with this, but I hope youunderstand how much I care for your daughter, and that I would never hurt her." He was saying this to me as much as he was saying it to my father. My father seemed to have some sort of head spasm, where he was trying to nod and shake his head at the same time.

"Out." He said to Scorpius as calmly as he could. Scorpius inclined his head towards my father.

"As you wish, sir." And he turned and walked out of the room.

"Rosie," Dad growled as soon as Scorpius had exited the hospital wing, "You told me there was nothing going on between you two!"

"Er, no I didn't?" I said, forgetting to be scared and looking sideways at my mum and seeing she was also looking confused.

"Ronald, what are you talking about?" She sighed exasperatedly.

"It doesn't matter anyway," Dad said, turning his embarrassment of being wrong into a sneer, "Because you're never going to be talking to him again."

"Ronald…" Mum warned, but Dad ignored her.

"Do you hear me, Rose? You are never to speak to that boy again!"

"Slight problem there."

"What?" He spat at me, leaving my mother looking scandalised.

"Scorpius is Albus' best friend."

"Albus can find new friends." He snarled, and now it was my turn to look scandalised.

"You have no control over Albus! He can do what he likes, you don't have a say in it. And if he wants to be friends with Scorpius, then he will. You can't stop him from that!"

"Oh yes I can!"

"No you can't, Ron." A new voice said. It was Ginny. Stood next to her were the bewildered faces of Harry, James, Albus, and Lily. "Don't you even _think _about telling _my _child who he can or cannot be friends with!"

"Ginny, you don't understand–"

"Oh yes I do, Ron, and better than you do!" Ginny cut him off, "I'm perfectly happy for my children to be friends with Scorpius Malfoy!"

"As am I." Mum joined in again. All four of us kids cringed as we listened to our parents argue.

"I've… er… I've gotta side with them on this one, Ron. Sorry, mate." Harry said awkwardly, seeing the guilt in his face as betrayal crossed the features of my own father's face.

"You've all gone mad. You've all gone bloody crazy." He muttered, walking out of the hospital wing abruptly.

"I should probably go calm him down – make sure he doesn't scare the living hell out of some of the midg–first years." He said, after receiving a sharp look from Professor McGonagall. He grinned sheepishly at her – a smile that she returned, unbelievably – and headed out the door, following my father.

"I was hoping Ronald would've grown out of his prejudice by now." The professor said, shaking her head sadly.

"So had I." Mum and Ginny said together, shrugging their shoulders.

"Don't listen to him, though, Albus. Tell Scorpius he is welcome at our house at any time." Ginny said to her middle child.

"Yes, please tell him he is welcome at the Burrow for Christmas as well. Any friend of yours and Rose's is practically family. I swear that's all you two go around with." My mum smiled at both of us, noting our shocked faces. It was true though; Albus and I rarely strayed outside the family for our close group of friends. It was mostly just me, Al, and Dom. That was all we needed. Harry had said once that we were like the Golden Trio themselves, which all of us had cringed at.

I found myself tuning out of the conversation, and thinking about what Scorpius had said.

"_Your daughter and I are a couple." _

Did this mean he was officially my boyfriend? Lysander's face swam before my eyes and suddenly I felt dizzy. I saw spots dance around the room and then everything went black.

_Again_.

**XXXXX**

As soon as I woke up again, I was greeted by 10 faces all looming above me. I stared around as my family whispered down at me. Mum, Dad, Harry, Ginny, Albus, Dom, James, Lily, Fred, and Hugo all staring down at me, I almost blacked out again. I forced myself awake and realised the one person I wanted to see wasn't there. Scorpius.

But I needed to tell Albus and Dom too. Maybe they could get him here so I could tell him.

"Er, guys?" I said groggily, "Can I have a minute alone with Albus and Dom, please?" All my other cousins left immediately, respecting my wish to talk to my two best friends alone. Harry and Ginny also left, and as my mother turned to leave I noticed my father being reluctant to leave my side. "Dad, please, just for a minute?" He gave in to me, and he was dragged out of the hospital wing by my mum.

"Don't worry, we know." Albus said immediately after they'd left, startling me.

"What, how could you possibly know?" I asked, amazed.

"Come on, Rose," He scoffed, "With a Potter, Weasley and a Malfoy, there's nothing we couldn't figure out."

"Scorpius?" I looked up at the mention of my _boyfriend_'s name.

"Er, yeah?" Albus looked at me quizzically, as if to say _"Why wouldn't he be with us?"_

"So he knows." My shoulders slumped in defeat. "He knows I can't be with him."

"What? Scamander was just being a prick. A really big fucking prick. Don't worry, we sorted him out." I saw the hint of a smirk playing about Albus' lips, and then his expression deepened into concern. "Rose, what did he threaten you with?"

I just shook my head as tears began to crawl down my face, and I felt Dominique's arm snake round my waist and she held me to her, letting me cry softly into her shoulder.

"Sorry, Rose, I didn't mean to… upset you. I just don't know what he could've possibly done to make you go along with him." Albus said, and the concern showed in his voice.

"Well, it doesn't matter what it is. Just know that we'll protect you. No matter what it is." Dom said, squeezing me tightly.

"Yeah, we won't let him lay a fucking finger on you, and neither will Scorp." Albus declared, and I noticed Dominique looking at him a fraction too long and I knew she was thinking about how Albus had just called Scorpius 'Scorp'. Merlin, things really did change.

"You know, Al, you really shouldn't curse so much. Lily is at a very impressionable age." Dom sighed at Albus.

"It's true, actually. You and Scorpius swear all the time. I think you guys need a new word." I agreed, and Albus almost looked offended. I noticed he chose to ignore the Lily comment.

"I do not!"

"You do!"

"Fuck off!" He said, and then he immediately covered his mouth with his hand. "That doesn't count…" He grumbled as Dom and I sniggered. It was so easy to wind Albus up.

"Tut tut, Al, you should be ashamed of yourself." Dom said, wagging her finger jokingly at Albus.

"Oh, ha-ha." Albus mumbled, and I knew he was groping about his mind for a new topic. "So… Quidditch. Er, I'm guessing you won't be fit to play the next few games?" I shook my head, noting that Quidditch seemed to be our go-to topic.

"Pomfrey says no, sorry cap'n." I said, grimacing. Albus looked thoughtful for a moment and then,

"Dom, you're a good chaser…" He began, and Dominique threw her hands up in the air.

"Hell no." She said bluntly. It took almost fifteen minutes to convince her to do it.

I think we all remembered our family at the same time, with Dom yelling "You can come in now" towards the door. We all shared one grin between us before they came bursting in again, with both Albus and Dominique redoing their hair.

This suddenly reminded me of mine. Careful not to touch my head wound, I felt my hair. Ugh, fantastic. It was greasy. And Scorpius had seen me! Oh great, now I was embarrassed.

"Rose, honey, what's wrong? You've gone all... cringey." My mother cringed herself at the word that sounded so much like what I would say. I dropped my hand immediately and smiled sheepishly.

"Er, nothing. It doesn't matter. Hey shouldn't you be at work?" This made my mother go on about why she wasn't at work in the first place, with Harry, Dad, and Ginny joining in, letting me zone out and think about a certain blonde Slytherin, without whom my hand felt oddly empty.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**OMG. Thankyou so much for the reviews, the 'favourite story's, and everything else, you guys make me smile!  
>I would've got this up last night but my internet decided to hate me. sadtimes...<strong>

**This story only has approximately about four chapters left in it. Maybe less. I am currently planning a sequel in my head though, haha. **

**I love you guys, please review!**

**thanks guys!**

**beccasophX**


	20. Chapter 20

_Forgive me if I st-stutter_

_From all the clutter in my head_

_'Cause I could fall asleep in those eyes_

_Like a water bed_

_Do I seem familiar? I've crossed you in hallways_

_A thousand times, no more camoflauge_

_I want to be exposed, and not be afraid to fall_

_**-For You I Will; Teddy Geiger**_

**CHATPER 20**

**SCORPIUS MALFOY**

Albus and I cornered Fate as soon as we could find her.

"BROWN!" Albus had yelled as I grabbed her arm and slammed her against the wall.

"Ooh, I would play, Scor, but I don't think your _girlfriend _would be too happy!" She squealed, obviously enjoying this more than she should.

"I swear to _God_, Brown, if you ever even so much as look at Rose again I will make sure she is the last thing you see." I snarled in her ear. Panic flashed in her eyes but she quickly hid her emotions.

"Why would I want to look at _her_?" She sneered, and Albus clenched his teeth. "That dirty – man-stealing – whore!" She spoke each word as if it was an individual statement. My grip on her arm tightened and I could see pain flitting across her face.

"You're the whore here, you disgusting tramp." I gave her a look of pure loathing as I loosened my grip and turned to walk away. She beat me to it though, and she yanked her arm out of my grasp and spun me around to face her again.

"You seem to forget, Malfoy," She spoke quietly but there was no mistaking the fury in her voice, "That not long ago it was you who loved my company so much. And here you are calling me a whore? You've probably screwed all the girls in this entire school, and yet you have the nerve to tell me that I'm a tramp? And look who's right next to you, the one who's probably second only to you in the school if we're talking about girls, the one you used to call your enemy, and now you've suddenly become brothers? You can lecture me all you like about being a whore, but that doesn't change the fact that you're one too. If I'm one, then you're most definitely one. Don't forget that, Scorpius."

She turned on her heel and stalked off, leaving Albus and I dumbfounded. Mostly because she had a point, but also because she'd mentioned the fact that Albus and I had become so close lately. In fact, she wasn't even wrong. I counted him as a brother. Since he found out about me and Rose, he's treated me like one. I knew that he felt the same too, which is probably why it had suddenly become so awkward. No one had mentioned the fact that we were so close now, not to us anyway. I saw people raise their eyebrows at us and things like that but the only time anyone had mentioned it is when I brought up something that Albus and I had done and Adrian had almost spat out his food and gone, _"You and Potter? Since when were you two together_?" which had only made me laugh, something I hadn't done in a while at that time. The weirdest part of our friendship wasn't the fact that we were friends, though; it was the fact that it wasn't awkward between us. We were just…friends. At first, I knew it was for the sake of me and Rose being together, but now it was more than that. I _liked _him being my best friend. It was comfortable. Albus, Adrian and I all had the same sense of humour and we had, well, banter. It was easy to forget we'd been enemies not so long ago.

"Come on, mate, let's go see Rose." Albus said, and I smiled at the mention of my _girlfriend_. I loved that I could call her that now. She hadn't told me she loved me yet, but I was okay with it. I could wait. Besides, with the way she looked at me, I knew she did. It was all in her eyes.

Rose was still in the hospital wing, much to her dismay. She looked up from reading one of Dom's magazines and her face split into a wide grin when she saw us.

"Oh great, the Bad Boys are here…" She joked, using the nickname Dominique had sarcastically given us. I smiled and leaned down to kiss her.

"Guys, seriously, get a room…" Al groaned, half-joking half-serious. I smirked at him and closed the hangings around us. "Just an expression…" He grumbled, and this time I knew he was joking. He drew back the hangings and smirked at me.

"Hey, Al, can you go get Dom?" I said, hinting I wanted to be alone with Rose for a second, and he caught on quickly.

"Yeah, sure, give me five minutes." He replied, and walked out the hospital wing.

"What do you need Dom for?" Rose asked, and I smiled at how cute she was.

"I don't." I answered, and I leaned down to kiss her again, but this time with a little more force. I gripped her waist firmly and she ran her hands down my back, responding to my kiss with just as much force. We broke apart, and she grinned. "That wasn't actually what I wanted to do. Well, I did, I always do, but I mean that wasn't my reason for wanting to be alone with you for a minute." I rambled, making her grin widen.

"What did you want then?" She asked, cocking her head to the side.

"I wanted to ask if you would come to this lame dinner shit that my parents throw every year. I have a feeling it would be a lot more fun if you were there, and you also get to meet my parents." I said, surprising myself at how much I wanted her to meet my family.

"Well, I _suppose _I could go… just for you. But what's in it for me?" She used my trademark smirk and wore it well, and I grinned and kissed her again.

"Lots of those." I said, smiling down at her.

"Mmm, sounds like fun." She said, leaning in to kiss me again.

Then Albus and Dom came in through the door and we all sat around Rose in comfortable conversation, laughing at Albus' lame attempts at trying to not say 'fuck'.

**XXXXX**

**ROSE WEASLEY**

My parents visited me in the hospital wing again – I'd been in there nearly a week and a half now and I was bored as fuck. Albus, Dom, and Scorpius came to visit me almost every day, except on the days of Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch practice.

"Hello Rosie, feeling better?" My mother said, and she glanced at my father. I noticed the tension that had suddenly filled the room.

"Yeah, I'm fine, how are _you_?" She didn't understand the hidden meaning behind my words.

"Oh I'm doing just fine, and your father and I decided to come down and see how you were doing." She replied, and my father let out an almost inaudible scoff.

"So, where's the Malfoy boy?" He grunted, and my mother shot him a warning glare that he either didn't see or just ignored.

"Scorpius," I corrected, "And he is at Quidditch practice. He's Quidditch captain." Father tried to find something to scorn about that sentence but when he couldn't find anything he just grunted.

"And what about Dominique and Albus?"

"They're with Scorpius. They all like to come see me together so they usually wait for each other to finish Quidditch practice and then come and see me." This was partly a lie, as they didn't really come and see me after Quidditch practice, but I knew that Dom and Albus were with Scorpius at the moment so it was only a small lie. I just didn't want my father thinking Scorpius preferred to play Quidditch over me.

"Right. Well. That's…okay." He mumbled, and I forced myself not to laugh.

"Er, actually I have a question for you two." I stated hesitantly. My mother nodded for me to continue. "Well, Scorpius' parents are throwing this annual dinner party soon and I was wondering whether I could maybe go?" I asked, speaking quickly to get it over with. I spoke to my mother mostly, because I knew my father would be angry.

"When is it, honey?" Mum asked after looking warningly at my father.

"I think Scorpius said it was on the sixth of August." I replied, trying to remember. "In the holidays."

"At Malfoy Manor?" She asked, and I noticed her hand move to her arm, where she had the word 'Mudblood' carved into her arm. When it hadn't gone away, my father had carved 'Blood Traitor' into his own arm to make her feel better.

"Yes."

"Will you be staying over?"

"I don't know. But if I wanted to, Scorpius told me I could sleep in the guest room." This wasn't a total lie. Scorpius had actually said that if I wanted to stay over I could either sleep in the guest room or in his room. I decided not to tell them that.

"I suppose that's okay… will you need a dress?" My mum asked. Scorpius had told me that this was a fancy dinner, and that I should wear a dress, but he joked that he'd love it even more if I turned up in jeans and a t-shirt.

"Yes."

"You can go shopping for it in the holidays then."

"Does that mean I can go?"

"Yes, I suppose." She smiled at me, and I leaned in to hug her.

"Thankyou!" I almost squealed, which surprised even me. I didn't know how much I wanted to meet Scorpius' parents.

We sat in silence for a few minutes, and the tension in the room built up slowly. Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer.

"Okay, what is going on? You've been acting so awkward since you got in here! What is that?" I added, noticing a small bruise on my mother's arm.

"That was from when I trapped my wrist in my office door; don't you remember me telling you?" I did actually, now that she mentioned it. My mother wasn't one to lie, so I didn't question it. "As for your father and I… well we've been having a few arguments. Nothing serious, just a few differences in opinions." She added hurriedly, seeing the look on my face.

"Please tell me you're not getting divorced?" I said quietly, unable to control the tears that had sprung to my eyes.

"Of course not." My father spoke for the first time since he asked about Scorpius. "I love your mother, and I will never stop loving her." He said this last part more to her than me, but I still found it comforting.

"So why are you arguing?" I said, trying not to sound like I was prying even though I was.

"It's…well…about you actually." My mother mumbled. "About your involvement with Mr. Malfoy." For a moment I thought she was talking about Scorpius' father, but then I realised she meant Scorpius.

"What about my relationship with Scorpius?"

"Your father doesn't approve." She replied as calmly as she could, and I refrained from saying _"No shit_"_._

"No, I don't, but your mother would like us to 'give him a chance'." My father replied stiffly.

"Why do you not approve? Scorpius has been nothing but polite to you."

"That may be so, but he is still a Malfoy!" He said, his voice rising. But now it was my turn to be angry.

"Yes, he _is _a Malfoy! So what? You base your entire hatred for him around his father! Scorpius is not his father! And his father was never even a real Death Eater!" I added, remembering what Draco Malfoy had revealed under Veritaserum. He and his mother had only supported the Dark Lord because his father had told them to, and threatened them.

"He has the Dark Mark!"

"And Harry has a scar on his forehead."

"What?"

"I'm sorry; I thought we were listing things that weren't relevant." I said sarcastically, and my father growled.

"It is relevant! He was a Death Eater, he has the Dark Mark, and no son of his is coming to hurt my family!" I froze. That's what he was scared about?

"You think Scorpius is trying to hurt our _family_?"

"Why else would he be in a relationship with you and be best friends with Albus? You've been enemies for six years!"

"It was Albus' choice to befriend Scorpius. And he is in a relationship with me because he loves me!" I blurted out.

"The hell he does!"

"And I love him!" Now my father froze.

"You what?"

"I love him. I love Scorpius."

"You don't know what love is, you're too young!"

"I'm sorry, wasn't Uncle Harry sixteen when he fell in love with Aunt Ginny?"

"That's different."

"How?"

"Because Ginny isn't my daughter!"

"No, she's your little sister! You still let her fall in love when she was my age!"

"I wasn't responsible for her!"

"Dad, if you don't approve of Scorpius, I don't care. I'm still going to be with him, and you can't change that. And if you're going to try, I'd rather you just get out." I said.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Then don't talk about Scorpius as if you know him."

"All I'm trying to do is protect my family!"

"I don't need protecting!"

"You're in the hospital wing!"

"I fell down the stairs in the common room!"

"So I need to protect you!"

"What, from stairs?" I asked sarcastically. "Do you hear yourself? I appreciate you trying to protect me from whatever it is you think Scorpius will do but I'm sixteen! You can't dictate my life! I need to be free to make my own decisions."

"I told you that, Ronald." Mother said, making me laugh.

"Daddy, don't be mad at me for being in love." My father's face finally lost all of its anger, and he sighed.

"Tell Scorpius that he has my blessing or whatever you want to call it." I could see the conflict on his face as he said it, and I resisted the urge to laugh.

"I'll do that. Thankyou, daddy."

"Just remember that no matter how old you are, you're my little girl." He said, kissing me on my forehead. I lifted my arms and he leaned in to hug me.

"We should go, Rosie, we've got a busy day tomorrow. Harry and I are being forced to help with planning the wedding." He groaned. Teddy and Victoire's wedding was coming up and all my aunts were the wedding planners.

"Okay, have a good day. Tell Teddy I say to write to me more often." I grinned.

"Will do. Love you, Rosie."

"Love you too, Dad."

He smiled and kissed me on the forehead, walking out of the hospital wing with my mother's hand entwined in his.

**XXXXX**

At midnight I woke up to movement beside my bed. I opened my eyes and I saw Scorpius.

"Sorry, Rose, did I wake you?"

"Yeah, but it's okay. Why are you here?"

"I couldn't sleep." He said, lacing our fingers together. I smiled and he kissed me gently. I rested my head against my pillow and closed my eyes again. I fell asleep almost instantly, but not before I heard Scorpius whisper one more thing.

"I love you, my beautiful red Rose." I felt a smile creep across my face before sleep finally took over my body.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**Okay, so for this chapter I have to thank #marrou for giving me some ideas about Fate. **

**I really cba to write much more on this a/n so I'll just say that there will only be another two chapters left in this story. Also, I probably won't start the sequel straight away, but it will be up eventually and I would really love it if you read that one when I post it.**

**Please review!**

**thanks guys,**

**beccasophX**


	21. Chapter 21

_I ain't settlin' for just getting by_

_I've had enough so-so for the rest of my life_

_Tired of shooting too low, so raise the bar high_

_Just enough ain't enough this time_

_I ain't settlin' for anything less than everything_

_**-Settlin'; Sugarland**  
><em>

**CHAPTER 21**

**ROSE WEASLEY**

Summer finally arrived and I was back at home. Our house was practically overrun with wedding plans, and Dad was a little disgruntled about it. He didn't like being forced to help, and it made me laugh. It became pretty boring after a while though; there was nothing to do really. I found myself wishing the sixth would come quicker so I could see Scorpius. Lily was going too, as Adrian's plus one, and my guess was: Uncle Harry was not happy.

He was fine about them dating, really, which surprised me. I thought he would be like my father when it came to his daughter dating someone, especially when that someone was older, but really he was okay with it. He wasn't too happy about Lily seeing him just by herself until Lily assured him that I was going too, and then he relaxed a little bit – but not much.

Finally the sixth of August came around, and I was beyond excited. Dom and I had gone shopping the week before to buy my dress, and we'd decided on a deep blue silk dress. The bodice hugged my body and emphasised my curves but not too much, and the skirt puffed out slightly before ending just above my knees. We picked out some blue shoes to match and we called it a day.

I went over to the Potters' house to get ready, as Lily and I agreed we would do it there. Dom was also coming over to help us; I'd asked her to. My parents insisted on coming with me to the Potters' house, pretending they wanted to speak with Harry and Ginny.

I made my way into Lily's room with my outfit and knocked on the door.

"Lily, it's me."

"Rose! Come in, I'm just painting my toenails." I opened the door to see Lily sitting on her bed with her tongue sticking out to one side while she concentrated on her nail varnish. She was painting them black. I was setting my stuff down when I heard another knock on the door.

"Lil, Rose, are you in there?" Dom's voice said from the other side of the door.

"Yeah, we are, come in." I said, and the door opened and my best friend walked in, a large bag on her shoulder. Immediately after closing the door, she sat me down and asked me about my hair.

"I think you should have it curled." Dom said, playing with my hair.

"Ooh, yeah, that'd look pretty. But not too springy, have it loosely curled." Lily said, having switched from painting her toenails to painting her fingernails.

"Yeah, that'd look good. What do you think, Rose?"

"Does my opinion count for much?" I joked, and Dom laughed, knowing that I really wasn't much help concerning hair or makeup or anything like that.

She got started on my hair pretty quickly, curling it loosely as we'd agreed. When she'd finished, she looked at me and frowned.

"Would you trust me to cut you a sweep fringe?" She asked, still frowning and playing with my hair.

"Er, sure?" I said it more as a question than an answer, but she took it as me agreeing. Soon enough, she was done with that and led me over to the mirror. The fringe swept across my forehead from the right, stopping and stooping a bit lower when it reached the far left of my head. It looked really good, and Dom looked pleased with herself.

"I like it." Lily said, looking up from her nails, which she was also painting black. She was getting annoyed with them, though, because she kept accidentally smudging them and having to redo them.

"Me too." I smiled up at Dom, who beamed back at me, impressed with her own handiwork.

"Glad you like it, but now we've got to do Lily's hair." Dom said, grabbing Lily and pulling her over to where we were.

"But I haven't finished my nails yet!" Lily cried.

"Rose will do them."

"Yeah, okay, I'll do them." I nodded, taking the polish from her.

Half an hour later, Lily's messy black hair was curled and put up into a loose bun, with bits around her face left out and hanging loosely. I'd finished her nails and had begun painting mine, choosing a nice silvery colour. Dom placed false eyelashes onto Lily's eyes and applied some eyeliner. She added a nude lipgloss to Lily's lips and then Lily went to go get into her dress. Dom then started on my makeup, applying eyeliner to my eyes and making my eyes look smokey. She applied the same nude lipgloss to my lips and then helped me get into my dress without ruining my hair.

I had just about got it on when Lily emerged from her bathroom in her dress. She looked breath–taking. The dress was black and had silver embroidery across her bust, and it had a sweetheart neckline. She wore black peep-toe heels, and a silver chain hung around her neck. She looked so much older than just fourteen, she looked about my age. She was beautiful. I put my shoes on and grabbed my bag.

"Wow, Lil, you look amazing." I breathed, fully taking in how beautiful she was.

"So do you, I love your dress!"

"Hey, don't leave me out here; aren't you going to compliment me on my jeans?" Dom joked. We laughed and headed downstairs. It was 7.40, and Scorpius told me he and Adrian would Floo in and pick us up at 7.45.

"Rose, don't go anywhere yet!" I heard my father shout.

"You too, Lily! Come here." Uncle Harry shouted too, calling us to the kitchen. Mum and Aunt Ginny gasped when they saw us.

"You two look stunning!"

"Absolutely beautiful."

"Couldn't you have worn something with sleeves, Lil?" Harry said.

"That's a bit short, Rosie." Dad commented.

"I don't like it." They said together. My mum and Ginny both rolled their eyes.

"Don't listen to them girls, you look beautiful."

"When are you being picked up?" Ginny asked.

"Rose?" As if on cue, I heard Scorpius' voice coming from the lounge. Lily and I hurried out of the room to meet him and Adrian. Adrian's face broke out into a wide smile when he saw Lily, qhile Scorpius just looked dumbstruck.

"Like it?" I smirked at him.

"Wow. You look even more amazing than usual, and I didn't think that was possible." He grinned back, snaking his arm around my waist. "You ready?"

"Adrian, is it?" I heard Harry's voice from behind me and I groaned.

"Yes, sir. It's lovely to meet you, at last. I've been told many fascinating stories about you and it is an honour to meet you." I saw Scorpius roll his eyes at his best friend and I bit back a laugh.

"Thankyou." Harry said stiffly. "When can we expect Lily home?"

"The party usually officially ends at about midnight." Scorpius supplied.

"But I will have her back then before if you wish, sir." Adrian inclined his head towards Harry.

"Midnight is fine." Harry said, and I knew he was trying not to smile. My uncle hated being cold towards anyone, but he knew in this case that he should be to frighten Adrian off hurting his daughter in any possible way.

"Of course, sir. Again, it was an honour to meet you."

"A pleasure to meet you too." Harry said, holding out his hand for Adrian to shake. I heard Lily breathe a sigh of relief, but I groaned. Now it was my turn.

"idnight is fine for Rose too, Scorpius."

"As you wish, sir." Scorpius odded towatds my father. Hary nudged my dad and reluctantly he held out his hand for Scorpius to shake. Scorpius accepted it before steping back into thefire with me.

"Malfoy Manor!" He said clearly, and almost immediately we found ourselves in Malfoy Manor.

I stumbled a bit, but Scorpius steadied me. We stepped out of the fireplace and I felt his arm snake back around my waist. I felt the corners of my mouth turn up and I turned around to face him. He smiled too, and then he leant down and kissed me. I loved the way his lips felt soft but firm. I felt his tongue brush my lower lip and I parted my lips to allow it entry. His tongue brushed mine and I let out an involuntary moan.

"Alright, mate." I heard Adrian's voice and jumped, breaking away from Scorpius, who just laughed.

"You scared the life out of me, Zabini!" I said.

"If it helps, Weasley, I wasn't enjoying the view." He joked and stepped out of the fireplace with his arm wrapped around Lily's waist. Then the door opened and I knew who was coming in before they did.

"Now it's your turn for 'meet the parents'." Scorpius whispered into my ear, smirking.

"Yeah but my parents are worse." I grinned, and Scorpius chuckled.

"Mother, Father," He said, once they had fully entered the room, "This is Rose Weasley, my girlfriend." Astoria Malfoy smiled warmly at me.

"It's lovely to finally meet you, Rose. I've heard so much about you from my son." She greeted me, and I heard the sincerity behind her voice.

"She hasn't…" I heard Scorpius mutter under his breath so his mother wouldn't hear, and I fought the urge to laugh.

"Hello, Miss Weasley. Draco Malfoy." Scorpius' father held out his hand for me to shake. He didn't speak coldly to me, just indifferently. "Adrian, nice to see you. Who is this lovely girl?" He smiled at Adrian, and I felt Scorpius stiffen. I noted that Draco hadn't smiled at his son at all.

"Nice to see you too, sir. This is Lily Potter, _my _girlfriend." Draco held out his hand for Lily to shake, too, but now he seemed less indifferent and more annoyed.

"Ah, so you both have chosen Gryffindors."

"Father..." Scorpius warned, and I felt my face go red.

"Well, girls, I suppose your families aren't too happy that you're here?" Draco asked. He said it politely, but I heard the meaning behind his voice. He was basically saying _"Why did you come if no one wanted you to?"_

"No, actually sir, my father was fine with it. He approves of your son." I said, stretching the truth slightly. Draco looked thoroughly taken-aback and I heard Scorpius try and turn his laugh into a cough.

"And you, Miss Potter? What of your family?"

"My father was fine with me coming here, also. He told me to say hello to you from him." Draco looked surprised, but I was more surprised of that it was true. Harry had told his daughter to say hello to the Malfoy family for him so he didn't feel rude. Scorpius was less successful turning his laugh into a cough this time, and Draco's eyes flicked sharply towards his son.

"Would you like a cough drop, Scorpius?" He glared.

"No, Father, I'm fine, thankyou." Scorpius said, and I could see him trying his hardest to keep the smirk off his face.

"Very well, we shall leave you four alone for a few minutes before the dinner starts." As soon as the door had closed behind him, Scorpius burst out laughing.

"I am so glad you guys are here. Did you see the look on his face?" He grinned when he could breathe again. I rolled my eyes at him as he continued to laugh at his father's pleasure of having us here.

When the dinner had started, and everyone was seated, Draco stood up and everyone was silent.

"Oh here we go…" I heard Scorpius mutter, and I smirked.

"Friends, we gather to dine together for another year…" He went on and on for a while, about some bullshit that Scorpius kept distracting me from. "And so, I would like to raise a toast, to Scorpius Malfoy and Rose Weasley." Both of our heads snapped up, both of us looking equally as shocked as the other. "May they find happiness together." He raised his glass to us, and everyone followed suit. Scorpius and I just looked at each other, shock cemented firmly into each of our faces.

Eventually, people stood up and mingled, and Scorpius led me to the space in the middle of the room where people were dancing to a slow song. He pulled me close to him and wrapped his arms around my waist as I put mine around his neck. We swayed there in silence until the song was over as I stared into his piercing grey eyes and he into my brown ones.

"I love you, Rose."

"I love you too." I whispered back, finally saying what I'd felt for almost a year. He leaned down and kissed me gently. "Can this moment last forever?" I murmured against his lips.

"I'll try." He breathed back, and I rested my head against his shoulder. This was where I belonged.

I belonged with him.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the end of our story. The epilogue will be up next, but don't expect Scorpius to propose or anything, because it's important that he doesn't for the sequel to work. I won't begin writing that immediately, because I'm working on a Scorlily story. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a strong believer in Scorose, they are brilliant together, but someone recommended to me that I read this Scorlily story and now I love them too. I'm not betraying Scorose or anything;)**

**I want to thank you all for reading this, you honestly don't realise how much it meant to me to see that you've reviewed, story alerted and favourited this story. I love you all lots and lots and thankyou for making me smile for the past three months.**

**The epilogue will be up within the next few days, if not later today.**

**Please review!**

**thanks guys!**

**beccasophX**


	22. Epilogue

****REPOSTED** Sorry, guys, laptop went messed:S Had to repost.**

_If I live for a million years_

_I will be right there_

_To catch your tears_

_Will you get over it this time?_

_Or is this the last time?_

_**-A Million Years; Teddy Geiger**  
><em>

**EPILOGUE**

**SCORPIUS MALFOY**

"Lorcan and Fate are engaged." Rose said, as she lay in my lap while I stroked her hair.

"Both infuriatingly annoying, it should work out." I smirked, and Rose grinned.

"Lorcan isn't that bad…" She joked. After her and Lysander had broken up back in fourth year, Lorcan had taken the liberty of whispering snide comments to her and about her. Some of them were pretty mean actually, and I'd wondered how his lack of imagination had come up with such things.

Rose laughed, and I felt a smile creep across my face as I heard it. It made me happy to see her happy.

_Sappy git._

I decided then and there that I didn't care how sappy I was. I loved Rose and Rose loved me, I could be as sappy as I wanted. She was _mine_.

_Possessive…_

I made a mental note to switch off that voice whenever I thought of Rose. All it ever told me was that I was such a girl.

Ron Weasley had become almost accepting of me. Almost. He still sneered around me or whenever my name was mentioned, and he liked to slip in little comments about me, but he seemed to approve of me dating his daughter.

Hugo had become like a brother to me as well. He was a pretty cool kid, to be fair, and he was always up for a laugh, even if he did act about six. I wondered how many of Rose's family I was going to start counting as my brothers. Hopefully not James Potter, he was a right dickhead. He wasn't exactly bad to me, because he knew that Albus and I were friends and that Rose was my girlfriend, but I knew he didn't like me still and that was okay because I wasn't particularly fond of him either. Teddy was cool, and not only was he part of their family but he was also part of mine, which meant I didn't really have to worry too much about him liking me because he was _family_. I'd grinned to myself when I thought this. Teddy did seem to like me though, and he always seemed thoroughly pleased to see me. I found this a bit weird, seeing as he was practically a Potter – the people who my father hated – and he'd married Victoire so he was now officially a Weasley, although not by name. It was almost a shame, because I thought that Teddy Weasley sounded way better than Victoire Lupin, but hey, whatever floats their boat.

Everyone in the Potter-Weasley-Lupin clan had begun to accept me now, and I loved it. I felt more at home at the Burrow than I did at the Manor. Rose's grandmother, Molly, was forever fussing over me and Albus, telling us we were too skinny and that we needed to eat more, which I was happy to do seeing as she was the most amazing cook. Seriously I was going to get fat if I kept eating like that. Everyone treated me like one of the family, and I was more than content with that. I'd never really felt like that in my house. My father had always just treated me as someone to carry on his name, and that's all. In Rose and Albus' family, I was their adopted Malfoy. Everyone accepted that I'd be there for most Christmases and holidays, because I was actually wanted there. Albus had told me to just show up whenever I wanted, but he knew I'd never do that, so he usually wrote to me and told me I was wanted with his family. Harry Potter, I think, had been the most accepting of me. He took me into his home whenever I was around, and he was always pleased to see me. He treated me like a third son, and when I was there, I felt like one. I thought Harry might've been slightly less accepting of me, not just because of my father but also because I was what Adrian and Lily had in common, and I was sort of what had drawn them together. Harry was actually surprisingly accommodating of their relationship, which was good because I knew Adrian planned on asking Lily to marry him. Big step up for little old Zabini.

He hadn't done it yet, but I was sure he was going to do it soon. He was asking Harry for his permission first; we Slytherins were nothing if not traditionalists. Adrian, Albus, and I had become closer since sixth year. Seventh year was our year. We'd spent the entire year getting into trouble, having a laugh, and passing our NEWTs like fucking bosses. We'd got into more trouble in that year than Adrian and I had done for all previous six years. And hey, it was our last year; what else were we going to do?

Rose had made Head Girl, and Albus hadn't stopped teasing her about it for the entire year. Phoenix Goldstein had been made Head Boy, which made Albus _pissed_. He spent most of the year pissing Goldstein off just to get back at him for it. Apparently Albus thought he should've been made head boy. Yeah, like that was gonna happen. With the amount of shit Albus, Adrian, and I got into its almost insane that we weren't at least suspended.

We were a year out of Hogwarts now, and Rose and I were to be starting our new jobs at the ministry. I was going into Auror training with Albus, while Rose went to work in the Improper Use of Magic Office. We were both working in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, so we would see each other a lot when we were there. Al just could wait to be an Auror; I think he felt like he should, as well as that he wanted to. James and Lily were not going to be Aurors, and I think he thought at least one of the Potter kids should be one, and who better to do it that Albus Potter: _Second _Biggest Badass Ever to Walk the Halls of Hogwarts?

I was leading Rose to a flat by her house. It was near, but not too close. I made her put a blindfold on so she couldn't see where I was taking her.

"Scorpius, where the hell are we?"

"You'll see." I smirked.

"I hate you, you know." She joked.

"I love you too, Rosie." I grinned, although she couldn't see it. She laughed too though.

I led her into the lounge of the place. The walls were white and the floor was wooden. A large sofa sat against the wall. It was facing a television, because I knew Rose would love all that muggle crap.

"Ready?" I asked, preparing to take off her blindfold.

"Am I ever?" She laughed, and I removed the blindfold from her eyes. She gasped as she looked around, her eyes drinking in every piece of furniture that she could find.

"Do you like it?" My voice came out more anxious than I intended it to, so I tried to cover it up with a cough.

"It's beautiful. What is this place?"

"This, Rosie, is our flat." I grinned and she turned around to look at me, her eyes wide.

"What?"

"Move in with me." I posed it as a statement and not as a question. She nodded almost immediately, and I walked towards her to kiss her. She pulled on my bottom lip and giggled, and as I kissed her, I realised how in love with her I was. How lucky I was to have her. How well she fit with me.

How I _will _marry her.

**AUTHOR'S NOTE**

**And that is the ending of the story that has been keeping me sane for the past few months. No, the 'How I will marry her' was Scorpius saying they were engaged, it was saying how eventually he would marry her.**

**The sequel to this story will be called "In Another Man's Arms". It will not be up straight away, as I am working on a Scorpius/Lily story at the moment. I know, I know, I'm betraying my ship or whatever, but I LOVE Scorose, I've just found a liking for Scorpius/Lily (Scorlily? Lilius?) as well.**

**Thankyou so much to all of you who've kept reviewing and making me smile when I check my email. It means a lot to me that you liked this, and I love youuuuuuuu!**

**Thanks guys!**

**beccasophX**


End file.
